


wonderland is an illusion

by altairstars



Series: altair's otherworldly ateez au shenanigans(stories are separate from each other, feel free to read 'em!) [1]
Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: 'dad' hongjoong, 'mom' seonghwa, Blood and Gore, Bottom!Yunho, Dystopian World, M/M, Multi, Sloooow burn, ateez are in a system, because wonderland mv made me do it, bottom!hwa, bottom!woo, bottom!yeo, dead dove pls don't eat, hongjoong mingi and san are pilots, i am sorry for the people who read this before the unedited tags TvT, san was in denial in some chapters, set in 2085, so trigger warning for all of you, some of them are in the military, the author is contemplating whether or not she's spilling the story through the tags or not, wooyoung is in chap 12 but don't skip reading it you guys :)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-13
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-17 10:20:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 28
Words: 57,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28723503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/altairstars/pseuds/altairstars
Summary: 2085, the age of the new civilization after the war. People were living their perfect lives, but at what cost?Jung Wooyoung. He's one of them. One of the costs to keep the world as peaceful and perfect - he's the government's puppet, their most prized possession, their experiment.Will Ateez get him and all the other experiments out?Will they succeed?//16-03-'21 update: The author has corrected the technical issue on chapter 26//
Relationships: Choi Jongho/Kang Yeosang, Choi San/Jung Wooyoung, Jeong Yunho/Song Mingi, Kim Hongjoong/Park Seonghwa
Series: altair's otherworldly ateez au shenanigans(stories are separate from each other, feel free to read 'em!) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2208033
Comments: 6
Kudos: 54





	1. beginning of an end

**Author's Note:**

> if u guys want to read while listening music on spotify, I reccomend to [click here!](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/77Q5CZp6c4EOxgHmb6uBhY?si=h_deglXKRdqHCYwesrmY7g)

At this age and this time, 2085, people are controlled by the system because the world had suffered a massive nuclear war thirty years ago. The system is a giant city, with districts and sectors with the capital filled with the government’s people(read: questionable and sus people,) and it operates like your normal socialist government. Not much is allowed, if you go against the system such as theft and murder, you will be sent in camps that are ‘reforming’ people like you.

The thought of defying the system is very much banned and dismissed as people lived and embraced their roles within the society. Every parent wants their children to join the system, since they felt like repaying because it had done it’s best to provide them with food and shelter after the war.

Athanasia is a big city. Well, more like a jumbled mess of countries and cultures of Asia intermixed into one, per se. People first founded this… society after the war, and the idea of creating a walled city from the crumbles of their past concrete-walled homes were plausible since there were materials. But money didn’t really count in that society.

Let’s say… they miraculosly had recovered, and now is kind of thriving off the city’s yield of urban farming on every rooftop of the city’s skyscrapers. Clear water is accessible to virtually everyone, most came from cleaning the polluted seawater and removing the salts in it, making both water and salt in the same process for further use.

Athanasia had a system for sectors. The people of the outermost circle, people of sector 6, 7 and 8 are people who had exited the so called ‘camps’, and the sectors’ aim is to reintegrate them with the society. But what happens is rather the opposite there. Sector 7 is the sector notorious of violence and anarchy, often called the ‘hell’, and the gates to sector 7 is called the hellgates not for some funny reason. The system had finally saw no use of the camps, rather, they dump all the criminals in the same place, and then guard it so that only certain people could pass in and out.

Sector 6 is notorious of their shady deals, usually consisting of the black markets for organ-selling and illegal substances, meanwhile sector 5 is the most ‘tame’ of them all, they’re infamous of their free sex red districts.

Moving back a circle—a walled circle dividing each and every sector, is sector 3 and 4. These are the sectors of your ideal citizens, not a very pretty city but they sure know how to run things. Sector 3 and 4 is the sector where people have usual jobs like running cafés, restaurants or hotels, your typical legal job. The people here are more disciplined, though some paid large amounts of money to sneak in the black market of Sector 6 to buy some shady things. But regardless, these people are just your ordinary people.

Moving back yet another Sector, we have the number two. Sector 2 is where most high-ranking general officials, doctors and scientists live, where the society is different than the sectors before. Sector 2 is the sector where people live in privilege, where most rich officials take other people to be their personal caretaker from sector 3 and 4, and pay them with high sums of money.

Then here comes the last sector, sector one. It houses the biggest government training center, and only training center, boasting in hectares of land dedicated for the government and the government only. The government recruits people that are strictly above 170cm in height for the men, and more than 160cm in height minimum for the women. They also strictly only allow 17-year olds to enroll, not giving the people another chance—even though it could be bribed with money. But it was for a reason, of course. They are young enough to endure harsh trainings, but mature enough not to cry nor make childish excuses while under their harsh regiment of training. 

Hongjoong and San were classmates in their Sector 3 school. They were living your usual teenager lives, along with some of their friends that came from the same district, hanging out together, having fun together. But that all changed when the system starts to scout the schools for recruits. If you got recruited by the system before you enroll, you are seen as a special candidate and would likely be ‘blacklisted’ if you were to reject their proposal.

Hongjoong remembered Seonghwa, a neighbor of his, that had already departed for his recruitment last year—even though they were born in the same year. Hongjoong was downgraded, meaning that his birth date didn’t fill in the minimum month limit which is mid-October in this case. So he is in one batch along with San, and Yeosang.

He was recruited after successfully being one of the brightest student council presidents in the whole school, and who is he to reject such an offer? His education will be funded by the government if the were to join, what does he and both of his friend who got recruited have to lose? Probably nothing.

The system is known for it’s strict enrollments, only seeking people who are loyal, determined to make the world better, and has an infinite drive for better position. They are seeking people who are eligible as the perfect citizen, fiting them to the perfect citizen mold by background checking their families, making sure none had a record of entering or trespassing sector 5, 6, and 7, or if any of their family members contacted the one in those sectors. Surely, none of the three recruited had such records, but the system wanted to make sure they had set the right people to set the right example.

“You got a letter too Hongjoong-hyung?” Everybody still calls Hongjoong by hyung, even though they’re as close as they could be.

“Yeah, I got ‘em. What about you, Yeo? You got them too?” Yeosang then brought out his letter, showing that he had the same thing as Hongjoong. “Where’s San? Wasn’t he supposed to finish his Chem class 5 minutes ago?”

Then, speaking of the devil, the 17 year old came running with a letter and a sweet drink in his other hand (probably treated himself with his part-time money in the canteen downstairs). “You got the letter too?! I heard there’s only ten people recruited this year from the three schools of Sector 3!” San jumped and jumped, he sure is super duper excited about this.

Hongjoong’s parents were sure proud of him and his three other friends. He sure is not a straight A student, that sounded more like Yeosang, but he is very social despite him being an introvert when tested. He was treated a slightly more expensive food in the sector, the best dumplings that they had around, and he sure will miss them if he’s stationed in another sector.

“I’ll miss you guys in the three-year training. We had only three days off on a month of training, and I’ll make sure to visit you guys then.”

He started to pack his clothes as the school term ended in three days, and he’ll be picked up in Sector 2 south gate along with other trainees that are going to depart from their home sectors to the sacred place called Sector 1.

That evening, San had called him to meet up in Yeosang’s father’s restaurant, saying that they should eat together for the last time since the dorms would be randomized. You could meet people from different districts, different sectors, or even different nations of asia. Most people came from South East Asia and East Asia, little from South Asia since they also had their own System down there in the borders of India and Pakistan. Hongjoong had packed some of his pocket money to pay for his own meal.

“Where are you going honey?” His mother asked him.

“Yeosang’s restaurant, San asked us to meet up there. It’ll be our last time eating in a Sector 3 restaurant before our training and our eventual position as a member of the system.”

“Here, take these too, it’s the least that we could do to make sure you are safe in Sector 1.” His mother said, handing out notes of clean money that sure was taken from the ATM not long ago.

“Mom, I can’t take these, it’s for you, keep it. The system will fund me from the taxes that all of you pay.” Hongjoong turned it down.

“Hyung!” San waved at him while sitting on the chair at table number 8 with food in front of them already and Yeosang facing his back.

“San! Shhh.” Hongjoong didn’t like attention, sometimes when heads turn to meet his figure, he;d kind of freak out inside.

“Ah there you are! Congratulations on your recruitment Hongjoong! I could not have been happier seeing you three recruited at the same time!” Yeosang’s mother approached them with yet another dish. “It’s on the house, don’t you all three worry.”

Hongjoong sheepishly smiled, since it is common knowledge that being recruited saves a lot of money. They don’t have to line up nor bribe in the government’s office, saving a lot of time and mental energy. The queue could last from one week before the enrollment opens.

People turned their heads to the three of them who are getting ready to eat their meals, and started to praise them. Some had scowled because they had missed theirs back in the younger days. They ate the cold korean noodles happily despite the fact that they’ll be seperated from each other tomorrow, but still, being in a 100-people batch isn’t bad. It’ll consist of 50 boys and 50 girls, so, they surely will meet each other in the classes anyways.

“There would be 3 divisions to choose, right? Public Safety, Administrations, and Medical Science, right? Where do you wanna go?” San asked both. “For me, I wanna go for Public Safety, it sounds fun. You get to travel everywhere in the districts.”

“I wanna be in the Medical Science, I don’t really excel in my PE class.” Yeosang answered.

“I’ll go for Public Safety, like San. Seonghwa went to Medical Science too like you, Yeosang, and he said it’ll be fun.”

“Really? It’s good that I have someone I know.”


	2. Chapter 2

The long-awaited morning came to San. His home in district 10 is the farthest one from the southern gate, he had to take the train for about 15 minutes, eating breakfast on the way and run to the meeting point because his mom had bothered to run another check and slip some things inside his suitcase when he woke up. So he’s nearly late, and if he is, then he’ll be blacklisted if he applies to the government institutions.

He ran and ran, and he saw another person running along with him, probably catching the same bus. That other person is really really tall, his body lanky and his height matched those died-out streetlamps beside them.

They both halted, then lined up for the bus and identification. San looked around, then noticed Yeosang and Hongjoong already inside the bus, probably saving a seat for him in the back.

“Name and address?” The guard asked.

“Choi San. Sector 3 District 10, 5th street house number 3.”

“Okay, you may go in, bus number five, I think your friend… Yeosang is in there too.”

“Thank you.”

Then San eavesdropped the conversation of both people behind him. The one behind him is Jeong Yunho, from Sector 4 District 3. Yunho was in the same bus as San, so he’s kind of intrigued in making friends with that person. He seemed interesting.

“San! Hey!” Hongjoong waved at him, pointing at the last two seats behind the other two. He sat with Yunho, then the bus is ready to go.

“What’s your name?” Yunho asked, since San is really timid and shy around new people.

“San, Choi San. You must be Jeong Yunho, I heard you back there at the identification.” San hoped this will not be awkward.

“Ah yeah, that’s right! What division do you want to join?”

“Public Safety. Yeosang there wants Med-Sci, and Hongjoong-hyung, my other friend, he wants to join PS like me.”

“Ah really? No one wants to join Admin? What a bummer. Oh yeah, and by any chance, are you recruited? I could use some friends since my other Sector 4 buddies are hating me now. I was the only one recruited in my school.”

“We three are recruited in Sector 3, out of 10 people.” San pointed to Hongjoong, him and Yeosang.

“Well I have a friend though, who’s recruited but he’s at Sector 2. He used to sneak out Sector 2 to my house at the border, and we hung out a lot.”

“Oh, really? What’s his name? We could really use some more friends.” This time Hongjoong is the one who asked, since a group of three is not enough.

“Song Mingi. He might seem cold and bratty at first glance, but he’s really a sunshine once you know him well.” Yunho assured them, and the Song family sounded like one of the prominent families in the System.

“Alright, if one of us ended up roommates then it’s better.”

When they reached the highway to sector one, Yunho brought out his holopad, seemingly wanting to communicate to someone.

“Hey, isn’t that the latest edition of holopad?” It was small hexagon, with a hologram projector in the middle.

“Yeah, Mingi got it for my birthday last year.” He then pulled out his phone, it looked brand-new and very slim. He scrolled his contact list, then pressed a name. He got his earphones out (all the earphones now are bluetooth), the popped them to his ears as his waited for Mingi to answer.

“Mingi, hey.” A person, looking like he’s seated somewhere in a car, had emerged in the hologram.

“ _Which bus are you? We might catch each other. I’m using my black Mercedes._ ”

“I’m in bus 5. I made new friends by the way, they’re from sector 3 and they are recruited too. Do you want to see them? Should I put you on speaker?”

“ _Sure, I’d need friends anyway._ ”

“Guys, Mingi wants to see you, are you guys okay?” He asked the three of them, and they said that they are.

“ _Hi. The name’s Song Mingi._ ”

“Yeosang, Kang Yeosang.” “Kim Hongjoong, call me Hongjoong, or Hyung since I’m born at November ’68.” “And I’m San, Choi San. Nice meeting you Mingi.” They all then smiled humbly, to which Mingi replied with a small one.

San noticed that Mingi looked so different from all of them, wearing a black dress shirt, velvet suit and probably velvet pants too, he looked so _rich_. Meanwhile look at them, only white simple dress shirts, except Yunho who wore a black dress shirt, matching Mingi’s.

Then, they noticed a car was beside them in the same speed, a sleek black car with a person rolling down the windows inside.

“That’s Mingi.” That person waved, before his car sped up and went to the highway gates connecting Sector 2 to Sector 1. Four of them were mesmerised, to the least, by the scenery and terrain before them, it was greener than any meadow than they have ever seen, but at the same time it was so colorful like rainbows pulled down to stay there.

The bus stopped in a lobby of a skyscraper, a place where all of them got dropped—even Mingi. The tall boy brought a big suitcase with him, meanwhile the other four had small baggages that was half of what Mingi had brought with him.

“Welcome to Sector 1, the place where my dad used to work as a 1st class General before he retired.” Mingi said, then he led the four of them to the boy’s groups, consisting of 50 boys and a leader.

“Attention please!” It was a voice that Hongjoong recognised. Seonghwa, with his all-white coat and black hair up had clapped, with two other person, one bringing a tablet beside him, and one with black uniform. That other person wore a simpler suit, like your usual businessman suits. Then the other one wore a uniform and a simple bronze rank brooch.

“I am Park Seonghwa, your guide for this week’s orientation, along with Kim Jungwoo, and Vernon Choi. We are the top three trainees this year from different divisions, I am from Med-Sci, as you could see from my white uniform, Jungwoo is from Admin, and Vernon is from PS. Now, would you all please make a line so we could check your identifications once again? Thank you.” Seonghwa then lets Jungwoo check the attendance by asking each one.

“The ones who are done, please group behind me.”

“Mingi!” Someone who clearly knew Mingi shouted at him. “Yuvin-hyung, don’t skip your class.” Mingi deadpanned, because he knew his brother’s schedule like the back of his hand already.

“Song Yuvin, First class Officer Jeon Somin is looking for you, please report to her.” Vernon added, making Yuvin quickly running since Jeon Somin is one of the fiercest women in the system. “That should do it. Your brother’s a bit too much to handle sometimes, Mingi.” Vernon smiled at him, which he replied with a small smile back.

“Good news then, I could assure you that I’m more disciplined than Yuvin -hyung.”

“Well, that’s a relief.”

The three upperclassmen led them to their respective dorms, some in building B and some are in building C. Hongjoong got himself roomed with Mingi in buiding B, meanwhile Yunho, San and Yeosang got themselves roomed in building C.

They had been given three hours free time, and after that, they’ll be gathered in building B’s hall for briefing, and uniform fitting. San took this time to visit Hongjoong and Mingi’s room, which is a smaller room than their three-people bedroom. San’s room had three beds, a bunk and a single bed, to which the single bed was claimed by Yeosang, and the top bunk by San, leaving Yunho on the bottom bunk. They all are instructed to wear black or dark clothes and whatever long pants they have.

Hongjoong’s room is in the 3rd floor number 20, in the end of the corridor.

“Excuse me, may I come in?” San politely asked, hoping that the two didn’t go out to find snacks. Luckily, someone opened a door, and it was Mingi. The tall guy was only wearing a dark grey hoodie and joggers, pretty unusual for a Sector 2 kid.

“Oh, hi,” San greeted him.

“Hi, come in please. I wanna go out and find Yunho. He’s still in his room, right? What number is it again?”

“We’re at number 506, or fifth floor number six. Our room is at the lift’s right-hand side.”

“Thanks.”

When Mingi departed, something in his heart still doesn’t settle right with Mingi. He’s met rich snobs, people who value their money and spent it so they garner attention, wearing expensive suits everywhere they go, despising middle class people like San—there’s something not right.

“Is Mingi… good to you?”

“Mingi’s a nice and polite kid, y’know.” Hongjoong said. “He asked for my consent for moving my stuff a bit so he could put his, and asked my opinion on where I wanna sleep. He also had an interest in art like I do, and I think he’s overall not your usual rich, arrogant and entitled asshole. He’s humble enough, quit your prejudices San.”

He sat on the bottom bunk, where Hongjoong slept, and looked around the room. It was very small, with a small balcony for clothes, a mini-fridge, two tables, and one had a hologram chess set on it.

“The chess set it Mingi’s, he said he plays when he’s bored. And he said he’d willingly teach me later tonight. He actually went to your room to ask consent for visiting after dinner to play chess together,”

“Good idea, tell him I consented to it, Yunho and Yeosang would probably too.”

San then looked at the top bunk, where a fluffy blanket and an extra pillow popped out of the bed. “That pillow and that blanket is the reason Mingi’s suitcase looked so big, he brought it from home.” Hongjoong giggled, seemingly already fond of his tall roommate.

“Hello? Can I come in?” Mingi knocked Yunho’s room, waiting for a person to open them.

“Ah, come in, Yunho is buying milk downstairs.”

Mingi smiled at Yeosang, then slid off his shoes at the entrance. He could already guess where Yunho’s bed is, must be the one with his earphones, seafoam-colored blanket, and cyan-colored dreamcatcher that was hung at the back of the ladder, positioned a bit high. He sat on it, smiling widely because it indeed felt so much like Yunho’s house. There was a balcony, cloth hanger, and three tables along with a mini-fridge.

“How long were you friends with Yunho, Mingi?”

“It’s been… ten years I suppose. We first met when I got lost in Sector 4, I was only with my mom at that time, stopping by her sister’s house. I ran off, then I met him. He offered me a green tea flavored ice cream that he’s holding, and we ate them together while my mom searched for me. I was a really naughty kid back then.”

“Ah, I met San in nearly the same way, he got lost then entered my family’s restaurant.”

“Hey, you should take me around Sector 3 sometime in the future and stop by your family’s restaurant, I haven’t explored a lot since Yunho lives in sector 4.”

“You want it?”

“Yeah, why-oh, right. You thought I don’t particularly enjoy walking to a place dirtier than Sector 2, is it? Well, I do enjoy walking around the town, but Sector 2 is very boring. They’re strict, overpriced, and old-fashioned. Sector 3 and 4 is younger and more lively I think.”

Yeosang was a bit blown away. He thought Mingi would mock him especially, because he knew that a family-owned restaurant does not make any remarkable profit. And he knew people like Mingi would prefer to eat at high-class restaurants.

“You could always eat anything you want Mingi, why bother coming to my family’s restaurant?”

“Ah, I’ve never had home-cooked meals—not until I was introduced to a Sector 4 restaurant by Yunho when I was 12. It was ran by a humble family, they were really nice, and home-cooked meals taste the best—because you knew how much love and passion they put into a dish that they serve, I could feel the genuinity.”

“What kind of food do you like? I could maybe also cook them at the dorm’s kitchen.”

“Oh sure!”

“Mingi?” Yunho peeked inside the room, then looked at the two people with a smug smile adorned in his face. “I see you guys are getting along well,”

“Oh god I totally forgot why I went here. I wanted to teach Hongjoong how to play chess, but my room is kinda small and playing chess with two people isn’t really that of a fun, so I figured that we could somehow play in your room—would you three be okay with that?”

“Absolutely! I could play them too!” Yeosang agreed, to which Yunho also agreed.

“Great! Hongjoong also messaged me earlier that San agreed too.”

“So… tonight after dinner?”

“Yeah sure,”

When they were fitting the uniforms, they were instructed to open their clothes so that the uniforms would fit perfectly to their bodies. We could see that Mingi’s build is muscular, with body so developed and sculptured that even men could turn gay for him—wait… that’s a weird analogy but okay. San’s build is like Mingi, but his lines are much more defined and lean—result of earning a black belt in taekwondo. Yeosang was very much flustered when he was instructed to open his clothes, his body had a small waist and a very lean strature he could pass as one of the female officers.

To everyone’s surprise, Hongjoong had a built body who could match San and Mingi’s—he’s like a hidden, unpolished gem behind all the thick clothes that he wore everyday. They were also given black tactical boots, the ones that are heavy and had thick soles—so that their shoes are uniform and it is already been calibrated to be durable but comfortable.


	3. Chapter 3

After the fitting, they had their lunch and tour around the training facility to familiarize themselves. Mingi held a ‘private’ tour for his friends only, since the upperclassmen didn’t really show them the PS stations, which had multiple fighter jet hangars, three tank garage and their weapon collections so his friends could have an idea where they really want to go. Yunho and Yeosang didn’t go, instead, they said they wanted to cook at their dorm’s kitchen.

“San and Hongjoong-hyung wants to apply to PS, right?” He asked them when they were going to the hangars on their free time after the tour had ended.

“Yeah,” They both anwered in unison.

“There are four divisons if you apply to PS. There’s going to be public security—which functions like some sort of police, then air force, ground force and navy. There will be no divisions in Admin, and if you go to Med-Sci, you will pick between Medicine or Science in the diagnostic test tomorrow like Seonghwa-hyung said earlier.”

“Ah really? I’m interested in the air force, being a fighter jet pilot sounds dangerous and fun.”

“Oh, me too! Even though I contemplated earlier, I made my decision!” San excitedly said.

“I was planning on the same thing though, well, I guess we three could be a small squadron.”

“Now there’s the jets I mentioned earlier.” He pointed from behind the metal fence, with a sign that says: “Authorised personnel only.”

“We can’t come in today, but once the training starts, the flight simulators should be inside that building over there.” Mingi then shifted his hand to a short building, to which the other two nodded.

“How’d you know all this though?” San asked.

“You remembered when I said my dad used to work here as a 1st class General? He used to be the Air Force general, Song Joong-ki. I trained to fly jets at the simulators since 14, so I could already give you both some mentoring. Y’know, dad used to take away my phone whenever I fail to fly,”

“Ow, that’s harsh.” San replied, since he knew how it felt like to be restrained from your phone. Hongjoong could only smile fondly to the both of them, San’s wall of prejudice had seemed to fall down rapidly after this particular encounter.

“Hey, it’s three already. We should really be back before four so the food won’t get cold and miss the presentation.”

“First one to get to the lift gets most of the food!” Mingi shouted while he already ran, which made both laugh and race alongside the lanky boy.

“My god, why are you guys sweating and panting?” Yunho looked at them confusedly.

“We raced back. The one who first got to the lift will get most food.” Mingi replied to him once he’s seated on the dining table. The kitchen is placed beside the lift, it is an alternative for students who don’t want to spend their money on canteen food.

“Good thing we finished just in time, we made tteokbokki for all of us.” Yunho showed them the small pot or the red soup and white rice cakes, and it looked so very enticing to be eaten.

“Can I?” Mingi already brought a spoon and chopstick, seemingly so ready to eat. Yunho scooped a lot for him, then to other bowls as well for the others until the pot is clean and placed it in the dishwasher.

They all ate happily, especially Mingi, who had so many emotions while eating the tteok one by one. He relished at how well they are made, and literally asked Yeosang’s recipe for this.

“There you are,” Seonghwa came to them, still in his all-white uniform glory. “I was knocking on everyone’s door, and noticed only five of you were gone. Good thing I checked the kitchen too. Let’s go downstairs to the basement, the presentation will start in 30 minutes.”

When they were heading down, they had met a girl who were also heading down by the name of Song Yuqi. She looked so young and so cute, and she was so polite on greeting them.

“Uhm… Seonghwa-ssi, by any chance, are you in a class with Soojin-eonni? I heard she’s in the medics team,” Yuqi asked, seemingly familiar to that person.

“Ah yes, she is my scientific project partner, Seo Soojin, is it?”

“Yeah! Her mom actually entrusted me with some things that Soojin-eonni left in her home 5 months ago, and she hasn’t been back since then. Could you… possibly show me her dorm room in our free time? I would also like to talk to her.”

“Of course. She should be in Building C number 706, if I happen to be unavailable.”

“Thank you so much Seonghwa-ssi,” Yuqi bowed, then continued to walk beside all of them. She had a short, shoulder-length black hair and bangs, which appealed to her cute face and strature.

“Good evening to all of you cadets. Today will mark as your first day of being one of us, one of the most talented chosen people in the system. I am Song Joong-ki, ex-general of the Air-force and fighter jet instructor. I’ll be your host today, so please kindly listen to my explanation. Do you understand?”

Everyone nodded—except Mingi, who said; “Yes sir,” accompanied with a salute. The cadets were looking at Mingi with a weird way, but then Joongki told him to stand up.

This is Song Mingi, my second son. And this, is what you will answer everytime your higher-up asks you. Now, do you all understand?”

“Yes sir!” Everybody did the same thing as Mingi did, then the lanky boy sat again on his seat looking perfectly unbothered.

“I assume that most of you haven’t really heard the divisions in our system, correct?”

“Yes sir!”

“The system is very strict on choosing people most don’t have the privilege be chosen nor be accepted—so treat your jobs seriously, and try not to fail any of the tests except the diagnostic tests that are going to be given. I’ll only explain the general things here, and after this meeting ends, you will choose your division then proceed to the assigned rooms tomorrow for your detailed description of your chosen division.

I will start with the most known division out there, Medical Science. There are two options if you are going to Med-Sci, Medical or Science. In Medical, you generally have to excel especially on your biology scores regarding the human body, and your chemistry scores should be high too, so you could be dispatched as a liscenced doctor out there. Meanwhile the Science, you there are some options, but you have to be good in all four of pure science and applied science to be accepted. If one does not pass the Med-Sci diagnostic test, they will be placed in Admin, which all of you know that it deals with the business and administration inside the system.

Now, the Admin does that, but there are more. Most admins do the business and administration of the system, but some will also manage the System’s records, like hospital records of fatal deseases, births and deaths, and all those things.

The last one is Public Security division, or PS in short. There will be four of them, the ‘public security’ or police, the air-force, ground-force and navy. Make sure that your are not afraid of heights when you apply to the air force, or you are not afraid when you dive if you want to apply as a navy. All of them are admirable work, so be sure to once again treat your assigned jobs seriously, and if we caught you lazing around, you will be blacklisted from the system.”

When they head back to their respective dorm rooms, Yeosang caught a glimpse of a lavender-haired person accompanied with a person with a white lab coat, seemingly agitated by the lavender haired boy. He looked like Yeosang’s age, maybe a bit younger, but he looked quite mischevious.

“Hey Mingi, do you know about a… um… purple haired guy around here?” Yeosang asked him.

“N-no? Why’d you ask me?” The truth is… Mingi knew. But, he wasn’t going to trust Yeosang until he could prove that he could be trusted. He also didn’t want to crush these people’s dreams, they are too innocent and precious for such a corrupting information.

“Nothing. It might just be my mind messing with me… y’know, new place and all.”

They were not allowed to use their phones in the dorms, even though the pones are not taken, but the higher-ups deem that the phones could be a distraction on further trainings, so all phones must be left at their dorm rooms, and be used in time offs or day-offs only.

That’s why Mingi brought his hologram chess set, because he isn’t particularly fond of his own phone, and he didn’t want to create that ‘rich kid-poor kid’ barrier by playing games with it. He’d rather play one on one with the real chess.

The hologram chess set is his old one, it’s been like what… six years or so? It’s his favorite one, it looked elegant but minimalistic at the same time. The chess set looks like a tablet with a small pouch of holograms hung on it’s casing, which then would be placed on that screen.

“So… what’s this?” Hongjoong pointed the queen, which looked like an animated female character wearing a crown. She’s waring a black dress with equally black hair, contrasting with her silver crown.

“It’s called the queen. The job is to protect the king, she could go virtually anywhere within these boundaries.”

“And… what are these in the front?”

“Those are the pions. They are like… how should I say it? Sacrificial people? They could only move one box at a time, but when they’re in their first step, it could be two.”

“Ah… I see.” _I hope we’re not the government’s pions then_.

Then, Mingi also told them everything they wanted to know about chess. The strategies, the formations, the cheats… everything.

“Checkmate!” Hongjoong shouted. “Finally! After 3 rounds of failing!”

“You were lucky, and I slipped.” Mingi chuckles, then asking if any of the others also wanted to try.

They were playing until eight, when a knock on the door was heard. “Excuse me,” It sounded like Seonghwa.

“Yeah?” Yunho opened it, since he isn’t preoccupied with anything.

“Get back to your rooms, the building will shut the lift and lock the doors at eight forty five. If you wanna get late night snacks, you better get it now, the supermarket across is going to close at eight thirty.”

“Oh shit really?” Hongjoong immediately left, and Mingi abandoned this round—he’d rather get back on time and have a good night’s sleep instead of sleeping in some friend’s room.

“See you tomorrow guys!”


	4. Chapter 4

“Who the fuc-” Mingi cursed when Hongjoong tapped his shoulder, effectively waking up the younger from his sleep on the top bunk. “Sorry hyung.”

“Breakfast is in the canteen downstairs if you wanna buy, but Yeosang came earlier and told us to come at dorm B’s kitchen. There’s some food left if we’re lucky.”

Mingi scratched his head and belly, seemingly still half in the dreamworld and drowsily went down the ladder, he nearly slipped on the last one.

“Careful, you don’t wanna sprain your ankle in diagnostic test day,”

“Right, thanks, Joong-hyung.”

They both wore their t-shirts, Mingi wore a black body-fit sports t-shirt and jogger pants, meanwhile Hongjoong wore a dark grey one with joggers. They both also wore the boots given, fitted perfectly with lace and their feet snugly placed inside the thick material.

It was still 6.30 in the morning, they had more time until 7.30 when the meeting for their designated meeting points. Hongjoong, Mingi and San were to meet at the Alliance tower next to the dorms with a few other kids their age, named Yukhei or Lucas, and Yeri. There were only five of them signing up as the Air-force officer cadets, but they were told that last year was even lesser, with only two signing up.

“The name’s Wong Yukhei, but please do call me Lucas.”

“I’m Choi San, this is Hongjoong-hyung, and this is Mingi.”

“I’m Yeri from Sector 4, nice to meet you all!”

Five of them were gathered inside the meeting room, with Joongki and another student under his supervision. It was a fairly small room, probably for meetings and other small-scaled events, with a round table.

“Good morning everyone,”

“Good morning sir,” Everybody reluctantly answered, since they are still not familiar with this setting.

“I suppose all of you are not particularly afraid of heights, correct?”

“Yes sir.”

“Today will be our diagnostic test, this first part is the written test to know your basic knowledge, and the second part is an hour after lunch, which is the physical testing. I will hand you all the tablets and pen, and you may start when the clock reaches 8, is this clear?”

“Yes sir!”

Yeosang came to the the Alliance tower a bit later than the others, only bringing out his own tablet to review anything that he needed before test.

“Hey! Are you coming to the Med-Sci meeting?” A boy asked. He didn’t know who it was. “I’m Choi Yeonjun! I’m going to that department too!” The tall boy smiled, he had the most genuine smile in the world, Yeosang thinks. Then, another one joined, bu he’s super duper sillent. He looked a bit awkward following their steps, but once Yeonjun coaxed the life out of him, he finally introduced himself as Mark Lee, a Korean-Canadian descent.

All three of them were the top at their schools for biology, and apparently the science department is favored more because of their paychecks. Yeosang cared little of his paycheck, his goal in life is to help people, not to earn money by halfheartedly helping them.

“Hey, you know what, I heard there would be some girls coming too! Can’t wait to see them.” Yeonjun chirped on their way to the meeting room.

Mark doesn’t seem excited, however, he looked like he misses somebody from home.

“You okay Mark?” Yeosang asked him.

“Y-yeah yeah. Just missed Donghyuck, my best friend. He’d come here in next year though, the System is eyeing him already.”

“Ah, it must’ve sucked though, having to wait another year. Be patient, alright? Everything will come in time.” Yeosang pats his back, earning a sad smile from the latter.

Yunho was searching around the building when he bumped to an unknown guy who was searching the same room as him. He looked peculiar, gloomy and dark meanwhile Yunho is all bright and bubbly with his pastel yellow hoodie and white joggers.

“Um… sorry, but… do you possible know where room 509 is?” The stranger asked.

“Ah, I was searching for it too! We could search for it together! I’m Jeong Yunho!”

“Xiao Dejun, but I’m more comfortable when people just call me Xiaojun. Nice meeting you.”

They still had 20 minutes before even they had to meet up, and the meeting starts in like 40 more minutes. They walked around the building, and Yunho figured that since Xiaojun is super shy at asking people, he kind of lost the way.

They met another person on the way, who is called Hendery, and apparently both shared the same second language that Yunho didn’t understand. He lets this pass though, so that both don’t feel awkward around him and possibly give Xiaojun a sense of familiarity in this new environment.

Yunho had read his legal document guideline over and over again, hoping that he’d remember it when needed, and he hoped he won’t blank in the middle of the test.

“I wish all of us the best of luck then,” Yunho smiled to his two new friends when the exam is only a minute away.

_The test was uneventful, and I won’t dive in to the further details since it is unimportant. All of them had passed, though most with average scores, but they are grateful nonetheless._

_A week later…_

“Wait, what’s a scalpel again Sang?” Yeonjun asked him for the nineteenth time, _Yeosang counted_ , and he could hear Mark giggle from the back of his seat.

“By the gods Choi Yeonjun,” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “That’s why I told you not to wander your eyes to the girls in class earlier! It’s the thing I want to stab you with.” He slumped back, and handed his tablet of carefully crafted handwritten notes to Yeojun.

“I’ll give you five minutes to copy my whole notes, I have a pharmacy class after break and my friends are waiting for me in the canteen.”

He sets the timer on his watch, then said goodbye to Mark as the latter had to meet with his friends. “Two more minutes Jun, are you finished?” He asked, absentmindedly looking at his watch.

“Who the hell finishes writing a paragraph in five minutes?! Why the fuck do you even give me five minutes?! I haven’t written since Baekhyun-nim said about the staples thing!”

“Your fucking fault Jun!” Yeosang then messaged his friends through his watch with voicemail, stating that he’d be there in five minutes.

“Dorm B canteen. Return it 10 minutes before break ends.”

“My god, why did he even sign up for Med?!” Yunho replied to Yeosang’s rant, further fuelling the shorter boy’s grudge.

“Calm down, please?” San distrupted their little complaint, mouth still full of food and looking seemingly disturbed. “Me and the others are really tired.”

San had just finished his schedule of flying a fighter jet in a simulator for the first time, and he could still hear the stall warning blaring inside his mind—poking fun at him for not recovering the stall and lets the jet free fall to the ground.

Hongjoong leaned forward after he had finished his food, he flew the jet in the simulator too, but crashed just before landing. Mingi, on the other hand, had it just fine, but he monitored both of the others while yelling directions to save the jet from falling.

“How was admin, Yunho?” Mingi asked with a raspier voice than usual.

“Admin’s fine, I guess. Made some mock legal documents here and there.” Then, he showed some typed words on his tablet, and there’s an A- mark on it.

“Oh, you did great, that A mark is something for a first timer like you,”

“Aww, you flatter me Mingi,”

Fast-paced footsteps and ragged breaths were heard from behind Yeosang, and he figured that it’d be Yeonjun returning his notepad. But it was someone else, a girl, handing Yeosang his notepad.

“Are you… Kang Yeosang? Yeonjun said to look for a face that looked like old greek statues, so I figured it’d possibly be you, and I kinda recognise your face from our class earlier.”

“Yeah, I’m Kang Yeosang, you must be Kim Jiwon, the professor’s favorite student from day one,” Yeosang smiled to her, and grabbed his notepad.

“Hey, you’re such a smooth talker Yeosang, glad to know that you’re not some cocky boy, see ya in Chem!” Jiwon ran to probably her class before chemistry, since they have schedule before it.

“Hit her Sang! She’s your type,” San suggested, even though he knew Yeosang wasn’t particularly interested in some boy-girl relationship. But he couldn’t say that in front of everyone here, not in this conservative institute.

“Nah, she’s outta my league.” Yeosang brushed it off, and continued eating since it had just been ten minutes since he arrived, and he’s got 35 minutes left. The others also laughed it off, but then he observed Mingi and Yunho’s behaviour. He thought that Mingi has the hots for Yunho, and it’s undeniable how he attentively listens to whatever subject Yunho talks about, even if he couldn’t understand. He could see the passion and trust beneath all that, and it looks… very genuine.

Yeosang couldn’t say that he envied it, but to a certain point, yes, he wants a relationship like that with somebody who is as commited, and as truthful like Yunho and Mingi. San noticed this too, and carefully texts Yeosang about what he’s thinking. Yeosang didn’t reply, instead, he eyes on Mingi and Yunho who were chatting animatedly over something.

The fox eyed boy grinned mischeviously, like he knew what Yeosang is thinking, and texted again. This time, it read; “Someone’s jelly here~” Yeosang then shot an angry look at San, trying to compose himself not to stab San with a scalpel, or should he bathe San in some saturated Hydrofluoric acid—Yeosang is too cruel, but he cared less about his thoughts.

“Sometimes I just wanna burn your whole body in strong Hydrofluoric acid if you kept on bugging me, Choi San.” He said it out loud, earning some looks from the people around.

“Yah, you’re brutal!” San faked a cry, but he sure is loving the heat of the drama right now. They all laughed at Yeosang and San’s antics, and Hongjoong looked at them fondly with warmth seeping inside his usually cold heart.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> new update, i have a spotify playlist to accompany you guys while reading, [click here!](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/77Q5CZp6c4EOxgHmb6uBhY?si=h_deglXKRdqHCYwesrmY7g)

It has been… well, a year since they all met. Yeosang took a lot of time learning from Seonghwa, sometimes both of them stayed out late in the library, skipping breaks to learn together, and even Yeosang had started an addiction to coffee just as his grades suddenly climbed up.

Hongjoong, San and Mingi are still not allowed to fly the real jets, even though they could fly fairly fine—and San’s body, honestly, had grown up. His shoulders are definetely broader, his back muscles more pronounced, and his jawline widened. It felt like puberty hit him late but it hit like a fucking Airbus A380. His body is a big flex, and everytime he changes clothes out in the field, girls younger or older would always ogle their eyes to that one perfect-bodied San.

Hongjoong had also lost all his baby fat, leaving him with a tinier waist, more noticeable abs. He had this weird fascination towards Seonghwa, sometimes probably purposefully hurting himself to let Seonghwa tend his injuries. He turned down every confession from other people, every offer to get laid in his time offs, and he regularly checked his mind’s health to make sure he’s alright.

Today is their winter break, and as per usual, they’d stay over in Mingi’s house for two days, then they would separate to sector 3 and 4 visiting their own families for six days, and meet up in Sector 3 to go around the town. Seonghwa tagged along with the other five, he enjoyed the company of his six rowdy ‘children’, even though they’re just a bit too much to handle sometimes. Hongjoong would occasionally help him, or just join whatever demonic ritual those kids have in mind and playing along with it.

Today was no different, with duffel bags strewn across the lobby corner, the owners were off buying coffee, leaving only Hongjoong and Seonghwa together looking out for the bags. They aren’t awkward with each other—it’s even the opposite—they are super comfortable with each other to the point where silence is the pleasant common ground between both of them.

“How are your scores for the finals, Hwa?” Hongjoong asked, because he just remembered that Seonghwa had a difficulty on some topics that he mentioned in his vent-out session the night before the tests.

“They’re honestly great. And your counseling had really helped me ease my worries, thank you, really.” Seonghwa smiled at him.

“Good to know then, I passed all my tests too, though some of them are not as great as I thought it’ll be.”

“Well, as long as you pass, then it’s alright. Your not-great meant A-, isn’t it right Hongjoong?”

“I could’ve done better, though, but okay. Anyway… why do they take so long?”

Seonghwa just shrugged, he remembered that Yunho’s a big chatterbox, so he’d probably wave and say hi to every single soul out there.

“About the other day, was your leg really alright? You seem to come even more frequent to the Health Center,”

“Um… can we talk about this once we have a little more privacy?”

“Sure…” Seonghwa glanced at Hongjoong in a bit of weird way, even though after that he just brushed it off—and probably remind himself to talk the stuff out of Hongjoong.

“Coffee’s here!” San shouted, bringing a cardboard box of coffees, hojicha for Seonghwa, and caramel latte for Yeosang’s sweet tooth.

San held his own latte, Mingi sips his hot black coffee meanwhile Yunho carefully shifts his hot matcha latte from left hand to right hand. They were all waiting for Mingi’s driver to pick all of them up with a limo, since a bus would look weird here.

Mingi noticed that Yunho had put an effort to look extra fluffy today, with his white knitted sweater, white padded coat his black pants and training boots, he looked like those handcrafted mochis that were sold in expensive prices at Sector 2’s most prestigious malls.

A jet black limo had arrived before them at the lobby of the building, all looking shiny and new. The chaffeur had opened the door for all of them, meanwhile their bags were put inside the trunk so that there’s enough legroom for all of them.

Mingi had two apartments in sector 2, side by side with a connecting door, and each one had two bedrooms even though it’s a bit small. It was located in one of the most prestigious complexes near his actual house, so he could visit his mom and dad whenever, or they’d come over in those two days. Hongjoong seemed to steal glances at Seonghwa, but the older purposefully ignores this so that he could observe Hongjoong much longer. He had taken a liking to the younger, his carefree soul and cute antics sure got Seonghwa’s heart all warmed up. But when he’s on duty, you could see the fire and passion in his eyes on everything he’s doing, for the sake of every other people’s safety, and Seonghwa loves that kind of look too.

They passed the meadows of Sector 1 training grounds, what looked like infinite amounts of white because of winter snow beneath the highway they are taking. They could see some students who came from outside Athanasia, from far away, who chose not to come home during the winter break due to some… inconvenience.

Cities outside Athanasia isn’t always protected from violent radiaton, in fact, some ruins are unhabitable due to large amounts of radiation caused by atomic bombings 60 years ago. The safer places were some small cities, where radiation didn’t really take a toll on mother nature. Sure, there are still a lot of animals in the African plains, but the megacities in Asia and Europe such as Shanghai, Sydney, Mumbai, Siberia and many more were shattered into rubbles by the war. South East Asia is somehow affected due to their close proximity with China, and some surviving people had fled to Australia due to the fact that the country had offered more safety than their homelands. The Americans were not so lucky either, since they were fighting the virus while having a war, and they had just recently got back up again and ran as a whole country in one continent—centering in North America, collecting all the remaining people in one place.

Seonghwa could still remember when he visits his late grandmother who lived outside the city, she apparently lived in the region which used to be called Chongjin in Northern part of the Korean penninsula. His grandma would always make tteokbokki for him that tasted very authentic, but she had died just two years ago, entrusting her recipe book to Seonghwa as she laid in her deathbed.

Speaking of the recipe book, Seonghwa had converted it all to digital files in his tablet for him to use, and there’s definetely going to be a list for grocery shopping today, and he bookmarked some of his friend’s favorites. Yeosang likes the seasoned chicken, so he should buy chicken for lunch today, then Yunho loves tteokguk—it’ll be dinner menu, meanwhile Mingi and Hongjoong would eat anything you serve on the table, so they would be fine.

He had nearly forgotten about his drink if it were not Yunho who reminded about it to him, saying that he’d been spacing out for quite a while now and his drink would brobably get colder if he doesn’t drink it soon enough.

When they had arrived, most of them got their bags out with them and started to run to the lift, not caring about how they’d be seen in other people’s eyes since they had done this a thousand times. There were times that the parents couldn’t be visited during their day-offs resulting a three-day two-night sleepover in Mingi’s apartment.

People could see from their uniformly colored boots that they were somehow a part of the system, either trainees, cadets, or even working people, but their attitude says otherwise. The stereotypical stern and cold worker images were shattered by mostly Mingi and San, since they literally talk in capital letters. Yunho then would chime in with his super duper weird antics that people seem not to understand unless they’re Mingi.

“Come on~ don’t stooop~ we need to go to 32nd flooor~” Yunho was whiny at this point, since he had practically spent 7 years doing this—going to Mingi’s apartment to accompany the younger while also tutoring him, or occasionally talk him through some problems that his parents can’t really know, or even just a simple sleepover—he’s very ready for this lift to just get him to his destination.

“The hyungs would take room 3203 along with me and Yunho, San and Yeosang can take room 3202. Any objections?” Mingi asked them while handing out the cards and spares.

“Actually, Seonghwa and I would like a bit more privacy, can Yeosang and San be in room 3203?”

“Sure I don’t mind.” Yeosang chimed in. “Me too.” San smirked, seemingly knowing what’s about to happen.

The entire walk to the hallway was very much uneventful, with Mingi and Yunho constantly bickering over who should sleep on which side like old couples do, and the others were only silent. Hongjoong’s body felt like it was moving on it’s own, like a plane flying in autopilot.

He tapped the keycard to the door, earning a beep and a click signaling that the lock was opened. The brought in his baggage, and then held the door for Seonghwa like a gentleman he is, to which the older thanked him again.

“So…?” Seonghwa brought up the topic just after they finished unpacking their clothes for the day.

“Oh… yeah… about earlier-” Hongjoong scratched his totally-not-itchy neck,then turned his back. “-I… I just like being around you okay? Like… I don’t know, I just feel safe when I’m around you—because I know I have a shoulder to lean on-” Hongjoong inhaled a sharp breath while closing his eyes, preparing for his next sentence. Seonghwa just sat there patiently waiting for whatever Hongjoong wants to spit out, he’s sure that he won’t be bothered anyway.

“I- it’s totally okay if you don’t feel the same way but…. Um… I like you Hwa. Not as a friend, not as a comrade, but as… a lover. Alright?” Hongjoong looked like in the verge of tears, since he knew this kind of love is forbidden in these places.

Seonghwa rose up from his position, eyes looking down, then he looked at Hongjoong with the same misty eyes.

“Come here,” This, was all it took for Hongjoong to slowly turn his head back, facing Seonghwa, facing his biggest fear and blessing.

“Come here,” Seonghwa opened his arms wide, smiling, and Hongjoong ran into those warm hands that felt like warm ember to the cold winter morning. “Wanna go to a little date later? I’m sure the kids won’t mind.” Seonghwa suggested while caressing Hongjoong’s hair softly to calm the sobbing boy. The latter didn’t answer, but he nodded his head that’s still buried in Seonghwa’s shoulder.

“I didn’t know that I could fall from this height,” Hongjoong said when they broke the hug.

“Fall from what height?”

“I fell into the deep abyss of your ocean eyes, Park Seonghwa,”

Seonghwa stilled. Did his eyes tell much meaning? He’s sure that it’s your ordinary brown eyes—but he liked how Hongjoong could make something special out of such ordinary things. Like a hug, a talk, er even some of his metaphorical thoughts that spilled out in his artworks.

“What about the future?” Seonghwa asked.

“We could think about it later, you still got one more year to graduate, I still have two. And I could fly anywhere matching your station,” Hongjoong caught Seonghwa off-guard with a small peck on the lips—and the taller’s face sure got turned tomato red right after he realized what it is.

Seonghwa then smiled, he hadn’t remembered the part where Hongjoong oculd fly virtually anywhere in the country’s borders. He then picked up his big tablet to find the shopping list, then checking them one by one again if anything was missing.

“Grocery shopping?” Hongjoong asked, since he knew this out of habit.

“Mhm. Let’s ask San and Mingi to tag along, Yeosang and Yunho could find whatever dessert they wanna bring home.” They entrusted the desserts to Yeosang and Yunho, since the two of them pick the favorites, not like San and Mingi who comes home with mint chocolate chip ice cream—which tasted like toothpaste for both Seonghwa and Hongjoong.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay, so... I don't even know where to start. Um... so basically all this time they are speaking in english, i'm really sorry for not telling you earlier, and also, Seonghwa had lived in australia for 7 years in this story. his english name will be revealed in the later chapters!

“Joong, hand me the flour,” Seonghwa pointed at the clear big bowl of it while the others are helping wash everything, and bless his quick hands, Hongjoong handed it to Seonghwa in a hot second.

“Thanks,” The others had noticed some easiness in the air, quite the opposite in the limo before that day. It was as if a wall was broken between the two, and both just met in the middle.

“What happened back before we shop, Hongjoong-hyung?” Oh bless San and his peceptive behaviour.

“Not your business.” Hongjoong replied coldly, the continued to ask Seonghwa what he could help.

“Hmm… certainly.” San smirked, he knew that gesture from everywhere. Mingi and Yunho were open to the fact that three of them are bi-curious, and both of them had also been bi-curious, so they are all in the same page. But now it seemed like Hongjoong and Seonghwa is sharing a special relationship that only some people could point out.

“Yunhoooo~” Mingi is whining at this point, the crown of his head on Yunho’s back while the younger follows wherever he goes. He’s very tired, and in need of some cuddling to get his energy back.

“What?” Yunho didn’t even look back—he’s still coating the chicken with another layer of flour before passing it to Yeosang who then fries it. San is currently handling the rice, cleaning it several times to make sure everything could go in the rice cooker without any issue.

“Tireeed~” Mingi continued his grumbling, not caring if he embarasses himself in front of his friends, because they are more like a family than even friends. Seonghwa is your typical worrywart and overprotective mom, Hongjoong is your short, strict, and overworked dad with anger issues, San is your hyperactive sibling, Yeosang is your calm-but-deadly sibling, and Yunho is Mingi’s soulmate.

“Be patient, alright?” Yunho had finished his task, he washed his hands on the sink, then proceeded to sit on one of the kitchen island’s seats—but before his butt could actually touch the chair, his hand is taken by none other than the tired boy, and both sat on the sofa with Mingi hugging Yunho’s side and refusing to let go. The younger nestled his head on Yunho’s shoulder, burying it deeper as he lets the scent of Yunho’s soft, vanilla scented perfume fill his lungs and lull him to sleep.

By the time the food was done, soft snores of people sleeping are heard from the living room. Seonghwa brought everything they had cooked there, and found two of his boys sleeping soundly on the sofa, cuddling each other in a… not-so-platonic way. Yunho’s nose is buried in Mingi’s hair, while the other’s is currently hidden in Yunho’s neck—as if he is sleeping while inhaling the scent.

“Yunho, hey, food is ready,” Seonghwa tapped his hand, while the others are already downing their own food.

“Uh? God, I overslept. I was planning on taking a 15-minute nap, it must’ve extended,” Yunho scratched his head, then caressed Mingi’s black locks to wake the other boy up too. “Min, wake up, you have to eat,”

Mingi just buried his head impossibly deeper to Yunho’s shoulder, not caring about anything in the world. He is too busy sleeping, and he doesn’t care what people say.

“Babe, wake up. Or else… no cuddles today.” The others were visibly startled by Yunho’s choice of words, since they didn’t even know that Yunho and Mingi are dating. Sure, both of them had shared some PDA, but it counts as a platonic display of affection such as buying each other foods and teasing—not like this.

“Sunshine, I told you not to call me that in public-” Mingi replied with his gritted teeth, seemingly not satisfied of what Yunho just said earlier.

“Mmmm, I don’t care Song Mingi,” Yunho continued to play with the younger’s hair, loving the way that those silky locks fall softly against the other hairs.

“Are you guys…” San wanted to let them fill the blanks in his sentence.

“Dating? Yeah. ‘s been six months,” Yunho aswered it after he yawned, he looked visibly tired too. “Min, could you get off me for a sec, imma bring food for both of us.” Mingi reluctantly loosened his grip, pouting and slumped to the couch, sleeping again.

Yunho carefully picks all the meat out of the chicken bones, then brought a spoon alongside a pair of chopsticks. He sat comfortably by Mingi’s side, not caring of the younger grumbles because his position is disrupted.

Mingi finally rests his head on Yunho’s shoulder, still a bit of unhappy that their relationship got revealed in front of everyone. Mingi was planning on telling them by the end of the year, since it’s new year’s, but Yunho spoiled the present earlier.

“Open up now babe,” Yunho nudged Mingi’s mouth with the spoon softly, his boyfriend is sometimes needy after such events like the finals. Mingi slowly opened up his mouth to eat, chewing everything up while still half-asleep. Yunho ate with the chopsticks while watching any random videos they found online. San was cackling loudly, meanwhile Seonghwa and Hongjoong occupied the other side of the sofa, sitting together silently.

“Um… guys,” Hongjoong started. “We’re also… kinda together? Me and Seonghwa…?” He looked obviously tense, not ready for any responses.

“Good for you guys then,” Yunho chimed, since he’s more than okay for them to date. San and Yeosang didn’t reply, only showing genuine small smiles to them both.

“Just to clarify, me and Yeosang aren’t together. He’s been liking one of the underclassmen under the ground-force division,” San teased Yeosang.

“He’s cute okay!” It is delightful to see Yeosang back to his character—not his usual stioc-faced and antisocial behaviour in the academy.

“Who is he?” Seonghwa asked, quite concerned because some boys could be warm at the beginning and cold after you date them—he’s been there and has done that before.

“Choi Jongho. Went to the Health Center a few days ago on my shift because of his sprained leg, and thought I was a girl at first.” Yeosang smiled at the memory, he seemed to cherish it so much. “He’s cute, gentle and kind, totally my type.”

“Yeah? Chase after him then Sang, if you think he suits you.” Mingi chimed in, totally missing his spoonful rice. 

“Guys, we’re heading out for a small date, if you don’t mind,” Hongjoong stated, he looked like he’s going out to some fancy restaurants with Seonghwa.

“Aww, we won’t mind Hyugnims! The house would totally be fine! We won’t burn it down!” San assured them with that mischevious and not-so-assuring tone, making Seonghwa really regret his choice to have a little date.

“Come on Hwa, they’re adults already,” Hongjoong took Seonghwa’s slender hands, then led him out the door. They checked their bags if something was missing, and nothing was. Hongjoong checked his bank account—making sure that there’s enough money for both of them. He really wanted to thank Seonghwa for being patient with him and the others despite their age gap, and despite only knowing some of them for only a year.

“Where do you wanna go, Hwa?” Hongjoong asked the older, because Seonghwa looked so fidgety and so… out of this world—his mind is wandering somewhere. “Hwa?”

“Huh? Yeah? Can we go to the mall? I just wanna look around and see if there’s anything I could buy for my family. Is it okay with you?”

“Sure, I was just about to do the same, y’know? We could use each other’s opinions in this case then,”

Seonghwa entered a small shop of handmade jewelry with Hongjoong, and then saw one that caught his eye. It was a small necklace, and it would look so unassuming if he were to buy it for his mother. He had a part-time job and entered some of the most prestigious competitions that gave him lots of money—so that he could at least give back a fraction to his mother.

“Hey, Joong, what do you think of that?” The older asked, quickly snapping Hongjoong out of his own reverie, and then came to where Seonghwa is. Hongjoong was looking at a simple stainless steel bracelet that you could customize—he wanted to buy it for Seonghwa.

“That? Who do you wanna buy it for?” _It’d look good on Seonghwa though_ —Hongjoong thought.

“I wanna buy it for mom.”

“Ah, that’s nice actually. Good choice.” Hongjoong then went back to that place, and made up his mind about buying one for Seonghwa. He thought of some phrases like: beautiful or lovely, but then his brain suggested something entirely different. Seonghwa rarely joined their group lunch—he’s learning and learning, no wonder he’s in the top of the class every year. But it also meant that Seonghwa is trapped, trapped inside his own unhealthy ego and unhealthy mind—he his himself inside the bars of morbid limitations that he had set himself with—completely shutting him out of the world.

_Be free._

That’s what he’s going to write. ‘ _Nice job, brain.’_ Hongjoong thought. “Uhm… excuse me, I would like to buy this bracelet,” Hongjoong pointed it to the clerk, then she grabbed a rod of small metal. He was asked who he wanted to give this to, and he answered; “My best friend.”

Hongjoong paid for it all, not caring how much it costs, as long as he could give Seonghwa something that could be reminded about—some sort of a secret ‘I love you’ code that only both of them knew.

When Seonghwa came to Hongjoong, the bracelet had already been customized, so Hongjoong had his it inside his coat already. He didn’t want Seonghwa to know, this is a present for later.

“Hey Hwa,” Hongjoong started, since they both are in the confines of their room again. It was a comfortable silence before, but Hongjoong just decided to break it with some simple phrases.

“Hmm?” The taller looked straight in Hongjoong’s eyes, seemingly searching what the shorter had intended to say.

“I… bought this for you.” Hongjoong hung the small pouch on the tip of his fingers, ready to let go. Seonghwa then looked curiously to the beige little pouch, because it looked too good to be true.

“You bought… a bracelet? _For me?_ ” He carefully took the small thing, gently opening every corner of the fabric before gasping softly at what’s inside of it.

It really does match with his style. Silver colored, simple, but meaningful. He looked at the cursive letters carved into the metal, then smiled ever so gracefully and so indebtedly, before turning his gaze to Hongjoong once again.

“Thank you, Hongjoong-ah.”

He carefully places the bracelet on his left wrist, and it felt like a missing puzzle piece—it will always remind him to not push too much, and just be free. It would always remind him that he is also human, he also has Hongjoong, he also has his friends that he could always talk to, and nothing matters more than being free.

“You’re welcome, Seonghwa-ya.” The once nervous boy finally shedded his anxiousness down, and replaced it with instant feeling of relief that Seonghwa took it with care and he liked it. Hongjoong didn’t know the older’s preferences on jewelries, but now he knew.


	7. Chapter 7

When they returned to sector 1 after their winter break, they were greeted with some grim news. Several people are already fired from the facility for what they said ‘rebellion’. Turns out the rebellion is for partying and getting drunk underage and without any adults nearby, partying in the dorms, and bringing alcohol in the facility. Some of them are the childrens of influential people, but even they are not tolerated. The system does not tolerate any disobedience—it was the first thing taught in the class.

The six of them grew afraid of their statuses of relationship, because the system is overly conservative with no mercy, and they all could be one of the fired people too.

San was the first one to change personality. He became way much colder and stoic, not playing when it comes to selecting friends, he puts zero trust on people in his close circle, even, because it was Lucas that reported some of the people that got drunk in the dorms. San had met this girl outside the facility, and had been keeping in touch with her even after he went back.

Seonghwa and Yeosang became even more distant from the group, sometimes spending the nights in their respective rooms trying to study or watch educational videos to entertain themselves, because they’d rather be tormented by subjects rather than elimination.

Hongjoong and Mingi still retained their warm personality, but they didn’t let anyone slip in without notice. Some tried to date them, but got rejected coldly without any closure. They’d spend the nights in the simulators, trying to get perfect scores in every aspect of flying oand also melee combats, since they could also be stationed at some unstable outside Athanasia.

The higher-ups were satisfied by the fear that they had induced to the students. Especially the last-year students who are studying for their finals, and some of them are very bored with their life, of not doing anything other than studying hard.

There are some days that the six don’t feel well to get in the class, and most usually asks Yunho to make a simple sick letter to e-mail their professors. Sometimes Seonghwa still listens to the lecture by voice call—he usually asks his close friend Soojin to do it under the permission of the teacher. And despite his condition, he still got a 97 in the test.

San took most sick leaves out of all six of them. He usually has 2 days of fever whenever the seasons change, and sometimes got the flu in winters since his immune system isn’t that durable as the others. He had drank every possible supplements to keep his stamina and health balanced, but sometimes his workouts took too much toll in his body, leaving him bedridden for days. Seonghwa would always come over in the breaks to check on him or any other sick members that are in their friend group, while still learning and juggling his shifts in the health center.

Yeosang had gotten pretty close to Jongho, to the point where they all hung out with each other and knew each other. They are Ateez, one of the most crazy-rich, genius, and chill friend circles out there in the facility. They are feared for their connections, one of them being Mingi and Jongho, since both came from the same, rich-ass and prestigious sector, and their extroverted, sociable personalities that are attractive to most people. Despite Jongho being the youngest, he is usually in charge of taking the matters into fists, fending off unwanted and jealous people in or even outside the facility.

Jongho is also the mediator, taking things into the middle ground whenever the calmer figures such as Seonghwa and Yeosang are too busy with their studies. He sometimes crashes into Hongjoong and Mingi’s room—or more like Hongjoong and Yeosang’s room, since Mingi sleeps with Yunho nearly all the time and no one complains.

Jongho had always seen Yeosang as the wise hyungnim that gives sarcastic but useful advices. Like that one time when Yeosang knew the girl that Jongho’s dating secretly cheated on him, the older said to just stand by innocently and do nothing despite the fact. And voila, with patience, she confessed that she had cheated on Jongho. Jongho was also told to give a sympathetic smile to that girl, so that she’ll feel guilty for cheating.

Hwang Yeji then became one of Jongho’s best friends. Yeji had dated Jongho to actually date one of his friends, Kang Heejin. He knew all the things that are going on in the other famous friend groups through Yeji, sometimes becoming the hot tea that he spills behind closed doors with Ateez. Ateez knew who partied and who doesn’t, who drank and who doesn’t, who dates who, and who’s the father of those people. They have all the evidence, because the only admin of the group and the only tech-savvy is none other than famous hacker of the facility’s CCTV, Jeong Yunho. Some kids had also grew afraid of Yunho, even some underclassmen branded the admin as ‘sweet but psycho’. He knew the codes to whatever locked CCTV footages, sometimes even paid by the system to find out who’s doing what—by the reccomendation of Mingi’s father.

“Who fucked who?!” Jongho was in a state of denial when he heard that.

“I said our senior molested a junior. His initial is W, and it was definetely non-con since the senior practically dragged her into his room. I had messaged the authorities already, and they are processing this as fast as they could now. It is handled.” Yunho said while still checking over the CCTV footages, making sure that nothing is left unattended or unsent.

“Shit, he pulled some bold move eh,” Hongjoong commented while still moving his white chess piece to the black-colored box in the chess set.

“It’s not just bold, but it’s a retarded move man,” San said from his top bunk, still checking over his report for one last time before sending it to Yunho for further proofreading. You see, admins are quite essential in a friend groups, since they will be the one who’s checking and determining the final scores of the reports—which contributed 35% on their overall score. Yunho is paid for doing this, don’t worry, and the more he proofreads, then the more portofolio he’ll get for his future job as well. 

“Yunho, I’ve sent you the file and payment to your bank account, please check it if you’re done with that shit over there.” San chirped, since it is a win-win solution for all of them.

“What’s the final page count?” Yunho asked him, so he could estimate the time of the finished product.

“Relax, it’s just a 4-page report, 503 words,” San threw a cute smile to Yunho.

“Ah, alright. It’ll take me probably 2 hours to finish, when is it due again? Next week friday?”

“Yeah, ‘s due friday, and today’s just sunday.”

“Great, I can finish Seonghwa-hyung and Yeosang’s medical report after I check yours.” Mingi could also proofread, since he had lived and learnt from Yunho the day he gets every subject, so he’s pretty much qualified and could lighten his boyfriend’s burden. Medical reports are the hardest reports that Yunho has ever handled, since it contains so much research source, citing, and terms that he isn’t familiar with. One medical report would take an entire week to finish, and five days if the person who wrote this is by his side and explains what all these are for. He still needs constant guidance from Seonghwa and Yeosang, and they paid him a high price in exchange for a 95 above score.

Next week, they were moving in a group when someone suddenly handed Yunho a box filled with chocolates. It was the girl from the footage, and she probably have already heard of this case being handled by Yunho.

“Thank you Jeong Yunho-sunbaenim! You saved my entire life!” She exclaimed, then proceeded to shove it to Yunho’s hand.

“You’re welcome, Choi Jisu. If anything like that happens to you or your friends, please do tell me, alright?” Yunho smiled.

“Just call me Lia, from science dept.” She also smiled, then looked at Jongho. “Wait, aren’t you Choi Jongho? Yeji’s ex-turned-best friend?” Lia looked excitedly to Jongho, since she knew from Yeji that you could literally depend on this person—or even this friend group.

“Yeah, that’s me. Tell her I said hello, she’s been to busy these days to eat with us,” Jongho replied.

“Sure! Once again, thank you so much!” She bowed, then walked away.

“Someone’s popular with the girls~” Mingi teased his boyfriend, earning a cute pout as a result.

“Let’s share the chocolate in the room later, now it’s time for lunch!” Yunho jumps around excitedly, as he usually does when lunchtime is coming.

They all sat in their usual spot on the canteen table—in the corner near the vending machine. There are no missing members today, since the finals are over and all that is left are unfinished reports wating to be checked. Yunho brought his laptop with Yeosang’s medical report in it, waiting to be checked as all of them buys canteen food. Mingi, San, Jongho and Hongjoong are donning their black uniform, meanwhile Seonghwa and Yeosang still wore their white coats, too lazy to put it down only to wear it in 45 minute’s time again. Yunho is the only one who wore a navy blue dress-shirt and black pants, looking a bit out of place here.

When they were still so into eating, a girl tapped on Jongho’s shoulder. She looked like one of the lazy asses from admin who wanted only fame by working for the system.

“Hey, I heard you’re close to Lee Jeno, am I right?” She asked.

“And may I ask who am I talking with right now?” He replied with another question, since he can’t recall who that is.

“Yeh Shuhua.” She winked grossly to Jongho. “Can I… perhaps have his number…? He asked for my help earlier but I forgot to ask his number.” Jongho knew Jeno wouldn’t ask some random girl to help him, he’s got Renjun to cover for his reports, or he could always go to Jungwoo as well. Never to a stranger.

“Sure.” Jongho really wrote Jeno’s number, but he knew what to do next. He had to quickly message Jeno that the girl named Shuhua would text him, and would probably hit on him. He knew this modus operandi all too well—he can’t be fooled anymore. Plus, he could also ask Yeji and Lia about this one girl, he’s sure that he’ll get hot teas.

Speaking of which, Lia had dragged Yeji to Ateez’s table, and Jongho couldn’t think of a better circumstance. They both knew all too well that betraying Jongho meant betraying Ateez and betraying Ateez means Yunho will burn their asses off with all the blackmail he could acquire.Plus, Lia had just been saved by Yunho, so backstabbing would seem a little too violent, don’t you think?

“Can we sit here? I wanna spill some hit teas that had been circulating around this week! Yunho-sunbae should realy check them out, there have been so many witnesses,” Lia looked really determined and she expresses a genuine concern to the system along with Yeji.

“Spill it then, be careful and don’t let it splash on us,” Yeosang commented, seemingly interested on what is really happening behind all the lessons and part-time jobs.

“So…I’ve been hearing that some people are trying to get Lee Jeno, since he’s from sector 2 and all.” She sips her tea, then lets Yeji elaborate to her point. “One of them being a person called Yeh Shuhua from admin. She’s one of my friend Lee Donghyuck’s ex, and tell you what, she’s really possessive. She could literally convince you to have sex with her! She won’t allow you to meet other girls platonically like this, nor even meet your friends. She only wants eyes on her, her and her.” Yeji said that in a shushed tone, carefully not making the hot stuff clap back to them.

“Alright alright. I know enough, and do you know when and where this happens?” Yunho could only ask the two girls that.

“The Donghyuck part is in last year’s winter break, they both didn’t go home on the first day. They didn’t do anything, but I’m pretty sure that she convinced him in open space. Donghyuck ended up staying over his other friend Jaemin’s house after breaking up with her. Her dorms are in Dorm E, Donghyuck’s is in G. I’m sure you could find them in those two buildings, especially Donghyuck’s roommate is out at the moment.”

“Thanks for the information, Yeji, Lia. People like them sometimes incite fear to whoever they met by harassing their biggest fears. She belongs to a famous group, right? Idle, if I’m not mistaken. But I know Song Yuqi and Seo Soojin-eonni, they are nice people. Oh wait she doesn’t belong there, but she claimed to be in there.” Yunho spilled all the information he got while hacking her social media accounts.

“She used to be my bully back in the school days, I’m glad we are in a different division now.” Lia stated. “Called me a lesbian because I went to my friend’s house for sleepover—to be fair it was only the two of us, but she continually accused us of doing adultery.”

“Have you ever thought that what she did to you was her own dirty little secret?” Yeosang asked. “I don’t know how to word it correctly, but what if the thing she accused you with, is the thing she had always did in the past? Have you ever thought of that?”

“N-no,” They all looked at Yeosang. He’s actually right. She is insecure of her secret—so she lashed it out to other people, not caring whether it’s true or not.

This is important, as the next chapter will be related to this topic.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> what's your dream civilization like?

San is currently dating a girl named Minji. She’s outside the facility, San had met her in the winter break then asked her out in his last day. She looked really nice, and she is nice… at first.

Yunho was the earliest person to notice that San had begun drifting away from them. Constantly staring holes to the screen of his phone whenever he could get it. He had also began on neglecting his assignments, he prefer texting than good scores.

Sometimes, he spent hours and hours talking on the phone, talking with someone they didn’t know—and didn’t trust. Seonghwa had tried all his best to coax San out of this destructive habit, but the younger is always so stubborn.

Minji is the perfect depiction of a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

Yunho had found all of her relationship track records, her online dating app rescource data, and all of the things that pointed to her wanting money more than a long-lasting relationship. She is good—or rather, exceptional with words, she could lure anyone who is willing and having money, in trade for some sweet nothings and ego boost.

San is known to be insecure about his body. Seonghwa too, but he’s got Hongjoong to support the Med student no matter what. Sure, friends are supportive of his change, but he isn’t content. He’s secretly greedy for compliments—he wanted to prove something to people, even though he knew he couldn’t. He wanted someone who supports him no matter what, no matter what his decision, even if it’s destructive. He wanted a little bit of fame.

We never have delved in the past of Choi San, haven’t we?

He is born in a normal family in Sector 3. Or it’s what people thought. Yes, his father is a taekwondo instructor, his mother is a waitress, but San wasn’t close to them. In fact, he isn’t close to anyone in his family, even his sister, Haneul.

He is under his uncle’s care, rarely meeting his busy parents, and was neglected as a child. He was small, fragile little crybaby who isn’t even brave enough to ask for a drink in the house, and is left alone most of the time since he never asked for anything.

He was living this…filthy life, not until his family realized it, but it’s too late. San was already 10 when his own family realized he was neglected by his uncle, because he seemed okay everytime he met them or stayed over for dinner. San looked polite, he did good in his every subject, and he was never late in school.

What they didn’t know, is that San is beaten whenever he didn’t get a 95—since he is in a scholarship program and his uncle can’t pay for his school fees anymore—he’d rather spend it on alcohols, soju, beer, sake, you name it. 

He never dared to touch those substances, because even the stale smell of alcohol could make him gag. He absolutely hated that stale smell—it had always been a bad news if he ever caught it in his nose. He didn’t have friends at elementary school, no one wanted to stay close to the smelly crybaby from Sector 3 slums. He cried often in schools, whenever he couldn’t do anything, whenever he’s not able to afford his books, and everything else that is small.

Deep in his heart, going to the public security division is the his only outlet to finally be what he wanted to be since his childhood. Strong, mentally capable, completely tearing apart his elementary school crybaby and fragile image. But we all know that who you are in the inside cannot be completely erased. It is the sole thing that made us… human, in a sense that we all have the same emotions, basically. We can hide it, but we can never erase it, because even serial killers feel happy and sad.

San is still fragile inside, swoon over some bullshit called false compliments, filling his heart with continual temporary relief that will never be satisfied. He felt the need to praise himself more, to believe in himself more, that he could become one of the best, emotionless soldiers out there. He thought that crying is pointless, it will never end if he’s the one who doesn’t end it now. _Big boys don’t cry… right?_

But this is just the beginning of this toxic mentality. What had started as a dream, now became his daily life. He fought against all odds to make a façade of a carefree, young and bright boy, ignoring all his past and dodging the questions about his past. He never shared it with anybody, not like Yeosang or Hongjoong, he hid his monster under the bed.

_He sometimes cried whenever nobody’s there, hoping that the faucet has been opened, he won’t need to open in again for a long time._

For a brief period of their dating, San had already garnered a dependency to Minji’s so called affection. He would constantly call her every night, telling her what he’s done today, and waited for her reply of that temporarily relieves his insecurities, but never healing it all together and still left him in broken pieces. 

Yeosang now saw him as a lost puppy, didn’t know his way home and warily looks around as he protects the one who gives him food, and in this case, he fiercely protects his one and only Kim Minji. Most of them are already tired telling San that he’s loving the wrong person, and that his lover doesn’t even love him like he does. Minji had always complained when San is called a minute late, and she’d always ask nosy questions about San’s day—to the point where the older is just so frustrated and ended the call early. But he still calls her the next day.

All of them even nearly exiled San from their group, as he gradually slips away at lunch and even at lessons. Mingi and Hongjoong had warned him that true love doesn’t always come with compliments, and you’ll need to know this person very well to decide that’s the love of your life.

But San will say that they can’t relate to someone like him. To Mingi and Hongjoong, San is still San, the person that they knew for years, but not like this one. This one is raw, broken, and bloody San. The dormant mountain after a big eruption, leaving a gaping hole that’s infertile and volatile.

Yunho tried to search anything related to San’s past, but he found nothing related to his current mental state. The only questionable thing he found was San was given up for adoption at one point, but his family had retracted the deal and had him back.

Jongho tried to talk to him, but got brushed off coldly even though he only wanted to help.

Slowly, he became the thing he resented the most. _His uncle, and the older Choi’s denial of feelings and toxic masculinity_.

He became like Yeh Shuhua. Possessive, no remorse, and praise-hungry.

He became envious of every couple, wishing that they too had a turbulent relationship like his.

He became so undone and broken, his bones had became black and corrupted, his heart losing it’s battle with the demon inside.

We could see in the earlier chapters that San is a very observant person. He knew what’s going on between Hongjoong and Seonghwa, the undeniable tension, and all that small, unsuspecting moments. He is quite observant, but in reality, he’s just jealous of their relationship. How could Hongjoong be so open to Seonghwa? How could he trust someone as busy as Seonghwa? How could he even manage to create that mutual attraction? Is it because of convenience? That Hongjoong needed someone to lean on and Seonghwa needed someone to talk to? Is it like that?

Or… is it something else entirely?

Does that count as love?

Is San truly so alone that he envied a relationship that Yeosang had with his family? Or is he just so broken that people didn’t want him anymore?

Those thoughts eat his heart and fueled his demon to attack once more time. Those thoughts had made him close himself further off the grid—dissapearing off the radar.

And never once, had San doubted Minji’s love for him.

_Oh, how a past could change a future._

“Hey hyung,” Jongho visited over to his room, since both of them coincidentally spend their break times alone, then Jongho asked them to move to the room. The younger secretly records this.

“What? If you wanna ask about my Minji? No thank you.”

“No, it’s a thing that’s been bugging my mind… I just wanna ask your thoughts about a perfect civilization. Your perfect life. What would you want that to be?”

“I want people to know that I’m different than my past, that I am strong, and I’m not a crybaby. I want a world without any bullies, and a world without discrimination… that would sound nice.”

“Oh really? If you live there would you feel happy?” Jongho asked again, since he is going to counter that statement, but waiting for the breaking point of San.

“I’ll feel really happy of course! Nobody is going to harass me just over a simple fact!” San had unknowingly let his heart slip out it’s last words before dying, his deepest intentions clear as crystal as the emotions finally die.

“Wouldn’t you feel bored though? And you will not find happiness, as far as I know, since happiness is in the same coin as sadness. How would you fell happy if you are not sad in the first place? How would ou feel satisfaction if you even never did anything? How will the world find it’s color when nobody is out of the so called ‘normal’? Sound weird right?”

San didn’t know how to answer. Was Jongho trying to prove his theory wrong or what? Ateez are like that, aren’t they? Not harassing them, no one bullies no one, but is it what he really wanted of people?

He began to rethink his decisions.

“Ateez isn’t like that hyung. We are who we are now because at a certain point we’ve been through something so devastating too. So far, I knew all of us were bullied at school, but we made fun of the bullies and for me, it is my personal driving force to propel myself forward and be myself, rather than being somebody else that isn’t even real. Nobody is flawless. As perfect as humanity can be, we could all still be a shit sometimes.” Jongho giggles, to which San doesn’t understand. Why, out of all emotions, could Jongho have the audacity to giggle over some dark and grim fact.

“Y’know, I’m still constantly called gay in class because I befriended Yeji and Lia. Well, I am, in fact gay, but that doesn’t stop the statement from being hurtful. It’s a hard pill to swallow, but once you found that person to trust, you’ll feel relief when you see their face.”

“I have-” San countered.

“No. What I meant is somebody in your family. The one who’s been tending you long before we or Minji come in to the picture.”

“Then I… don’t have one. I was never wanted as a child, mom and dad had always favored my big sister—and they gave me up to uncle at the age of three. I was taught only violence. And it’s normal right? You cried and… they say big boys don’t cry,” The fact that San stated violence is a normal occurrence is so devastating to Jongho.

“No, it’s not hyung. It is not normal to treat somebody with violence. And the fact that you think it’s normal, is scary hyung. Because once you think it is, you will become the person you hate the most.” Jongho now sighed, it seems like the problem is bigger than they had ever thought.


	9. Chapter 9

“Yeosang-hyuuung.” Jongho knocked on Hongjoong and Yeosang’s room that very same night, nearly knocking it over of Yeosang didn’t open it for him. The room is already dark, only a small sleeping lamp accompanied them.

“What is it Jjong?” Yeosang rubbed his sleepy eyes. “Wanna stay over? Hongjoong’s staying over Seonghwa-hyung’s room again.”

“I kinda only wanna talk, but I can stay over. I’m sure Seungmin and Felix won’t mind.” Jongho is already clad in his sleeping attire, a black t-shirt and grey loose jogger pants. Yeosang is still borrowing Jongho’s light gray hoodie, wearing it now as the owner looks at it with a small smile adorned on his lips.

“There are still some late-night snacks if you wanna take it out the cupboard, or I have some on my bed too, where do we wanna talk?” Yeosang sat on the bottom bunk, which his current position is on.

“Anywhere you’d like. I’ll probably sit on the chair then.” He dragged the chair, the plopped over it before positioning over to face Yeosang. “I’ll record this conversation so the others could also be DM-ed and know about this matter as soon as possible.”

“Sure thing. So…what brings you here?” Yeosang asked to the point, he skipped the formalities as he felt like he’s close enough with Jongho.

“San-hyung.” Jongho answered, looking so very concerned. His features were not really as prominent under the not-sufficient light, his lips slightly curled down and those usually twinkling eyes had lost all it’s spark at the moment.

“Whaddabout him?”

“Hyung do you really think he’s okay on his own? I mean… has he ever told you his insecurities in the first place?”

“Nah, he’d always dodge it no matter what.”

“That’s my point. But I’ve been watching some videos lately, and I experimentally asked him about his perfect civilization. If I ask you that now, what’s your answer hyung?”

“I just want it the way it is now. There are hard times, good times, but I always know that whenever ‘m with my family—which includes Ateez, we’ll be fine. Even if the world’s crashing down on us, we’d still have each other.”

“That’s my point. He’s been… dare I say neglected, as a child and overly bullied in his early years. I would like to quote his answer: ‘I was never wanted as a child, mom and dad had always favored my big sister—and they gave me up to uncle at the age of three. I was taught only violence. And it’s normal right? You cried and… they say big boys don’t cry,’ And I would like to emphasize his answer on ‘big boys don’t cry’. Where the hell in the world did somebody taught him that? And who the fuck teaches violence to kids?”

“Alcoholics, depressed people, paranoids, helicopter parents…”

“That’s my point. Although San-hyung had never mentioned that his uncle is an alcoholic, but I heard that he used to be… y’know, called a crybaby. I have the recording of my previous conversation with him, that I would like to also share later for further evaluation. But back to the point, he said violence is normal for him. Is it normal for you?”

“No! Of course not! Why’d you even hurt people in the first place?!”

“And he said it’s normal. Correct me if I’m wrong, but if someone thinks the violences that they experience is normal, isn’t he bound to do the same? Because he thought it could channel his iner hatred of what he used to feel to other people?”

“You are right. Jongho I’m telling you right now that you’re the wisest dongsaeng I’ve ever knew and got close to. Really.” Yeosang smiled wryly, since he now knew what could tip San off his tightrope of false hope and sweet bullshits he always had relied on.

“Do you think our compliments are enough for each other?” Jongho asked again, since he is also concerned about San’s twisted need of constant reassurance and compliments. It was as if he’s lacking so much.

“Yeah! Definetely! The fact that you and I survived all this ordeal is the proof! What else could you ask for?”

“Nothing. How can we… uhm… y’know, get him out of this sick loop of feeling not enough?”

“In my opinion, we have to start slow, maybe even start very small like compliment him more and encourage him to ask us for help. Him sending his reports to Yunho doesn’t count, since it is a mandatory thing to do. We then could move into bigger things, such as asking him if he needs help in anything, or even help him without him knowing. After that is already good, we could move to the biggest thing, which is making him rethink his decision of Minji. Are compliments enough to make you happy? Is living a so called ‘dream life’ actually making himself happy?”

“I was about to say the small baby steps too though. I guess great minds think alike huh?”

“Oh yeah, I’d like to add something though, we could actually make the point that it takes two people to relate to his problem, we can’t magically read his mind or sumthin’.”

“Is that it?” Jongho asked.

“Yeah.” Yeosang nodded, then he plopped backwards to his pillow. Jongho then cuts off the recording, just as a knock on the door was sounded on their room.

“Who’s that?” The younger asked.

“Oi, it’s me, Seonghwa. I wanna take the blanket,” The oldest male peered inside the room, then saw both of them sitting comfortably across each other. “You stayin’ ‘ere Jong?”

“Yea, I just talked about some matter with Yeosang hyung. Please check you guy’s DMs for two audio files from me, alright? Those two are important.”

“Hmm, sure.” Seonghwa took the blanket from the top bunk, then went out of the room. It was 8.15, and Seonghwa’s room is just two floors away from them, and it’s a single room.

“Also… another thing hyung,” Jongho sheepishly scratched his neck, a gesture that indicates his nervousness—because it probably is something he thought up on the spot. “You’re a bi… right?” He asked.

“Yeah? What about it?”

“W-would you mind if I… date you? Gah why is this so fucking hard-“

To tell you the truth, Yeosang had never heard Jongho curse out loud. Like, really. The younger was never an outspoken person, and sometimes it scares Yeosang too—because even if he giggles cutely, there must still be dark thoughts lingering in his mind.

“I… wouldn’t mind, Jongho. I would never mind it—I’d be honored to be called your boyfriend,”

Jongho visibly stilled, since he had never been accepted in these kind of boy-to-boy confession before. He was always rejected, bullied, and constantly teased.

“Really hyung? Are you really telling the truth right now?” Yeosang could see guilt and regret in Jongho’s expression, even if he knew the boy for only six months, but he thinks that they’re built for each other. Jongho had never once minded about his busy schedules as a med student and senior, he respected Yeosang’s space and privacy, and he had never once been too nosy like all his other friends. It felt like Jongho is a perfect companion to him.

“Look at me Choi Jongho, don’t hide your face,” Yeosang lifted the frowning face, then pecked his lips ever so lightly and gently, and looked into the younger’s eyes. “My parents have given up on making me or my older sister straignt. Like… really. The only one straight other than mom and dad is my little brother Taehyun. They’ll be delighted to meet you when I bring you home.” The older added.

“Yeah, but I’m definetely taking you out on a date at sector 2 first.” Jongho had gained his confidence back, and looked at Yeosang’s face with wonder in his eyes. “What did I do in my past life to get you hyung? Did I save the world or something?”

“Ew cheesy, but I kinda like it since it comes from you,” Yeosang took Jongho’s warm hands into his colder ones, then dragged him on the bed to cuddle.

“What are you doing hyung? Don’t I sleep on the top bunk?” Jongho was already half-kneeling on the bed, his only support is by his left leg.

“I want cuddles. Is that alright with you? Am I taking this too far?” The older looked so regretful, he thought he crossed the lines here. 

“I-it’s okay. I’ve never cuddled with boys before though, so this is my first time,”

“Yeah, sorry for not remembering that you hate skinships,” Yeosang released the warm hands he had unconciously been holding, then moved to his position. He felt the bed dip down to Jongho’s heavier weight, but he paid not much mind of it, and pulled the blanket so that it covers both of them. They were not too close, but not too far either to not feel the warmth of each other.

Yeosang didn’t get his cuddles, and he respects Jongho’s space—so he turned his back on the younger. Twentieth of March, 2087. They’ll surely remember that.

Jongho felt something weighing him down on the bed. He usually wakes up a good hour before his alarm blares, and in the darkness he could see hand slung over his waist—the color of the sleeve is too familiar for him not to recognise. It’s Yeosang’s hand wearing Jongho’s light gray hoodie. He turned, faced the older and thought: ‘so this is what cuddling with someone you love feels like,’

Yeosang looked so peaceful even after Jongho changed his position, his breathing is still even and calm, nothing had changed significantly. He smells the gentle smell of Yeosang’s floral shampoo, apparently the older liked any flowery scent he could find, particularly soft ones like camellias and lavenders. Jongho made a mental note to buy him artisan camellia-scented bodywash from the shop near his house in sector 2. He made sure too to buy a buquet of white camellias, which represents his adoration and lavenders, which signifies purity and grace—Yeosang’s purity and grace deserves all the adoration in the world.

He checked the screen of his phone, and it showed 6.15 am, so he probably should get ready to come back to his dorm room to get ready, since the underground tunnel is already open. There are underground tunnels under the dorms which connects them all from A to G—even though there’s also a bridge at the 16th floor, but Jongho’s room is in the 5th, and the bridge isn’t open yet.

Hongjoong opened his dorm door and gasped lightly at the state the two of his friends are in. Cuddled to each other, with Jongho’s hand a bit outstretched because he’s playing with his phone.

“Oh, hey hyung,” Jongho casually greets him as if nothing happened, but Hongjoong knew now that Jongho and Yeosang are closer than just friends.

“You confess or Yeo did?” The older asked, to which Jongho raised his hand. “Ah. Alright. And by the way, I’ve checked the two audio files, thanks for that. We now at least know how to deal with him.” Hongjoong flashed a smile to the younger, then went to the bathroom to probably get ready.

“Yeosangie-hyung, wake up,” Jongho poked the soft cheeks, and he felt a gentle stir which indicates that Yeosang is at least half-awake. “Hey, I have to get ready for class at 8, Hongjoong-hyung is here too,”

“Mmm~” Yeosang’s grip on the younger’s waist tightened, he is still not fully concious of what he’s doing, but Jongho paid no mind.

“Well, I guess 10 more minutes won’t hurt.”


	10. Chapter 10

San is still quite adamant on keeping his relationship with Minji. Even though he’s more… dare I say enlightened, but his old nature is still there. He tried to reason with Minji, but lately, she’s been mad at him for not visiting her in his day-offs. San is busy studying and training for his final test, but he planned to take a month rest after all this ordeal.

Ateez is still trying to counsel him every week, seeing if anything is wrong or if his trauma relapsed. None of that thankfully happened in the last three months, San had been fine.

Or at least it’s what they thought. In reality, San is better, but his judgements are sometimes clouded by his inner desires, his inner child that had yet to be satiated. He planned to marry her once he got out, and had already bought an engagement ring for her.

Yunho was getting ready when he saw a red velvet box peeking out from the duvet on San’s bed, but he paid not much mind to it. He also found San calling Minji more frequently despite Ateez trying to drag him out of this toxic situation, but there’s not much that they could do.

Minji came from a poor family, but she saw a chance of being rich in an easy way by hooking up with San. The older had paid for her school tuitions, still sending money to her, and even expensive gifts from Sector 2.

He did it out of pity—seeing the old him that is helpless and he didn’t want the same torment he experienced got to her. He didn’t love her that much anymore, she had became a necessity and a routine. He hoped they both will get what they want in this relationship, that is why San had wanted to marry her.

She’d be safe with him, and it’s gonna be okay— _or is it?_

When they were enjoying the sleepover in Mingi’s house— _minus Jongho and Yeosang, since both stayed in the youngest’s apartment a block away_ , and San brought out the ring to them. He said he’s going to propose to her, and the others were immediately concerned.

“Oi San-ah, are you sure?” Seonghwa asked.

“Yeah.” He tried to maintain his speech at this level, so that it’s convincing.

“Y’know, San, happiness doesn’t always lie in a diamond ring.” Mingi chimed in, seemeingly not amused of what San’s going to do with her.

“I know.”

“San-ah, you sent money to her for paying her tuition, right?” Yunho asked.

“Yeah, why?”

“She doesn’t use it for tuition. I was checking your bank account’s money flow in case that there are some hackers, then stumbled on her account…. And as I expected, she used it to buy her tertiary needs, not the primary ones. She was never even enrolled in the school she was talking about San-”

“You could’ve been lying Yunho!”

“Fine. But if you are getting a divorce next year I will not be surprised.” He sarcastially replied, not caring of what the others are going to say anyway.

“Are you happy with her? Do you _love_ her? Is giving that money a _need_ and out of pity? I ask of you Choi San.” Hongjoong is still skeptical about San’s decision.

“I-” San hid his face in his left palm, not ready facing the truths that are laid carefully in front of him.

“You’ve been in denial for far too long, San-ah and that’s not good. Don’t deny your feelings, you’re humans too just like us,”

“B-but how come you could contain the urge to cry?!” His voice cracked, he’s going to cry. His chest ached, and his eyes stung.

“Because I know that if I cry here, no one’s gonna judge me, San. That is how I contain my cries. Ask Hongjoong.” Seonghwa smiled to his lover who’s sitting on the couch.

“He cried constantly in exam weeks. I had to stay over in his room, and sometimes we just cried together out of frustration.” He chuckled.

“It is okay to cry San. It’s okay to break down when you feel safe. We’ll help you take the pieces and glue ‘em back again.” Yunho is now running his hands on San’s back, calming him to break the feelings down properly.

That night, San had his first proper good night’s sleep after a year full of denial and frustration. He is sleeping alone on the sofa, since he didn’t want to be in the other apartment alone since the two other couples occupy the bedrooms.

He thought over about what he’s going to do with Minji, but he got a weird dream. He was standing on a flowery patch, holding a black flag—and he’s facing an unknown purple-haired man, who looked nearly like him, but his whole body is chained down on a pedestal. He looked broken, hair unkempt and messy, with bruises and blood along his body.

He tried to step down the flower patch, but once he stepped into the void that seperated them, his alarm blared loudly. _Fuck_ he thought. He was almost there. But anyways, he smelled some nice things from the kitchen, since the apartment’s more like an open concept, so everything is open except the bedrooms.

He then saw Seonghwa and Yunho fumbling together with some dishes, meanwhile Hongjoong nad Mingi were watering the plants on the balcony. It will be their last winter break before finally diving straight into the jobs—and Seonghwa took a week leave since he’s now stationed in sector 4.

San had thought it over and over again, but he couldn’t overcome his thirst—he doesn’t know how to.

San is curious about what Yunho had said. He tried to tame those dark thoughts down, as it is also mentally straining, and it had actually worked. He thought back of when Seonghwa and the others encouraged him to seek professional help—and he had just started his counselling about a month ago, every once a week.

In those four times, he was asked to be open-minded and accepting, rather than making that mental shield, because it will eventuallytake a toll on him—it’s gonna make him crazy someday. He was still in his recovery phase, and he realized that he unconciously relapsed and lashed out to Yunho.

He stood up, straightened the hems of his crumpled tee and ruffled his unruly hair. As he went to the the kitchen, he saw both Mingi and Yunho being so domestic without even trying, and he just chuckled at that. He wasn’t envious anymore, hell, he’s thinking about cancelling the proposal to Minji after this.

“Hey guys? About the other day… I’m sorry. Really. It was really selfish and egoistic of me to lash out like that.” San hung his head low, avoiding all eye contact from the others. Seonghwa stopped washing his dishes, and then came over to see San still hanging his head low.

“Chin up, San-ah. The world isn’t ending today.” Seonghwa smiled, and lifted his chin up. “We still made breakfast for you, and we’ll still binge watch the drama you and Yunho had been interested about,” The older reassured him.

Meanwhile, in Jongho’s own apartment, the two lovers were trying to have some private time for themselves, since the younger got really cooped up in the engineering workshop and hadn’t been able to share their lunches together. Jongho still has got a year and a half to finish up and graduate in his aeronautics engineering.

He had planned to take the older out on a date, but Yeosang wanted to stay at home and just relax for their first official day of winter break. Yeosang had gathered all the blankets and the pillows to the sofa-bed that Jongho had in his studio apartment, arranging it so that it would make a cozy getaway in the small and cramped studio apartment.

Apparently, Jongho’s parents were already retired and they were living in a seaside house—and the sector 2 main house is handed to his cousin’s family who is currently taking care of it, leaving Jongho to live in a simple, one roomapartement. The apartment actually had two floors, but the second floor is only 50 ish centimeters height and is only for sleeping, so the sofa bed is comfier downstairs.

Jongho had hid his new year’s gift for his boyfriend inside his closet, making sure no one catches a glimpse of it other than him, securing it below a pile of shirts and socks. He then also texted the flower shop owner to make sure his order is ready. A buquet of white camellias and lavenders. Those flowers were more expensive, especially in the winters, but Jongho paid no mind at all.

As Yeosang is preparing their lunch, he thought he heard some plastic is being wrapped and tapes being pulled—as if Jongho’s wrapping a gift. Well, the younger is indeed wrapping a gift, and placed it carefully on the bed before going down.

Yeosang made sure that his boyfriend eats something before he went out, since Jongho said he had some business to attend just for today. The younger lied, obviously, his business is actually taking a flower buquet and a pair of matching silver necklaces in the place near his neighborhood.

Jongho, being the cheesy boyfriend he is, bought a couple silver necklaces, shaped like a key and a heart padlock. He also engraved their initials behind, YS on the key, and JH on the padlock. He planned to give the padlock to Yeosang, so whenever they are away from each other, they’ll get some sort of support from the necklaces that they will wear.

He had texted Yeosang to see the bed, and to text back if he had found something on it. Yeosang had found a brown-ish box, heavy in weight and a bit big in his hands. He then heard something liquidy in the inside, something viscous, and he hastily opened it.

It is a big bottle of lavender soap—the brand that he had always want to have but never got the money nor chance, and there’s two significantly smaller bottles, one labeled as; shampoo and another as perfume. He then saw a letter from Jongho under the shampoo, and read the rounded and cute handwriting his boyfriend had.

‘ _I know you’ve been silently complaining that there’s no shampoo for your dry hair, so I bought you this one. The soap should also help with your dry skin, since you don’t wear lotions often. The perfume is a bonus :)_ ’

Yeosang felt giddy and smiled widely, he has never given these things—the most expensive thing he was ever given is an iron necklace that had rusted in his bedroom’s drawer.

The doorbell rang, and he rushed to get down the steep staircases, nearly slipping since he wore his socks inside.

“Coming!”

When he opened the door, he was greeted by the smell of flowers, his lover, and a big hug that envelops his whole body.

“T-this is for you, hyung. Happy 9th month anniversary. Sorry I wasn’t there on the 6th, so I thought I could make it up now-” Jongho was cut off by something soft on his lips, and he melted against it, knowing it must be his boyfriend.

“Jongho-” Yeosang took the flowers from the younger’s hands, admiring the arrangement and the size—it fitted perfectly against his hands, nice and steady to grip. “Thank you, so much. You don’t have to do this, y’know,”

“But I want to, hyung-”

“Don’t call me hyung if it’s only the two of us. I’ll feel guilty because I’m gonna feel like I’m dating my younger brother Taehyun.”

“Now, would you let me in, Yeosangie?” Yeosang wasn’t really ready to be called by his name—especially when it came out of Jongho’s mouth. It had sent shivers down his spine, he suddenly felt lightheaded and giddy, feeling weird but at the same time so happy that he got a boyfriend like this.

“Come on, we gotta binge watch the new webtoon drama again,”

“Alright, if you insist, Jongho-ya.”


	11. Chapter 11

Fast forward 3 years later.

“Hey Sunshine,” Mingi greeted his lover from the phone. He’s currently out of the city Yunho is stationed in, but is scheduled to fly back tonight.

“ _Hey Babe, how’s flight yesterday? Clear weather?_ ”

“Yeah, the sun accompanied me during the flight. I’m gonna get ready in an hour, but… before I go, I just wanna say hello to you,”

“ _Mmm, make sure to come home tonight, the hyungs are coming over. Wait, how long is the flight again?_ ” 

“4 hours, not really that long if I have no delays. Alright, wish me luck.”

“ _Good luck babe! Love you! Bye!_ ”

“Bye my sunshine, love you too.” Mingi reluctantly pressed the red button, he didn’t want this call to end very shortly—who knows what’s going to happen to him after this.

Mingi had been flying around as a commercial airline pilot, but sometimes he escorts international flights from the borders until his designated stop. The jets usually escorts for about 3 hours before landing and getting somebody else to take over.

Thankfully, his duty for escorting is the next month, so he could enjoy and relax a little these times around. Being a commercial flight pilot is the part of the job, and their salary is both jobs combined. The system pays them per flight, so it accumulates their flight hour, and after it reaches the end of the month, all of it are summed up then transferred to their bank accounts. Their schedules are arranged by the system, therefore nobody gets more flights than the other.

Mingi had only escorted once this month, the rest of his schedule are packed with commercial domestic flights that had a one-day gap every flight, and three day gaps between his usual round-trip flights. He comes back to his station, which is in the city where Yunho is stationed too. Pilots can set their stations on their own, and the algorithms will resechedule their whole flight plans. They have four chances of station-changing, and the request is to be sent at least a week prior to their change, so that the system will arrange all of the schedules correctly and nothing gets overlapped in between.

“Good evening passengers of Atha Air flight 506, this is First Officer Song Mingi here, welcome aboad this aircraft. Please make sure to listen to the safety demonstration on the hologram before you, put the seatbelts on when the seatbelt lamp above your heads light up, and make sure to put all your phones and holopads on flight mode before takeoff. We wish you all a comfortable and enjoyable flight. Thank you,” Mingi started off, as he and all pilots usually do before flights.

Thankfully there were no delays, and the ATC reported that there will be a small rain ahead, but they could fly over it or avoid it with a slight turn.

“Chongjin Tower, this is Atha Air flight 506, how is the weather so far?”

“ _Atha Air flight 506, there are some storm clouds present above Tonghua city, but the rest is clear, over._ ”

“Thank you, Chongjin Tower,” Mingi could sigh in relief now. He just turned on the autopilot, and then quickly asked for a weather report since these days the weather is ever-changing because it’s transitioning from spring to summer.

He missed Yunho badly, though there are many ways he could contact the latter, but it feels different when you touch and feel the warmth of his body radiating near you, or when he rambles about his work and boss for hours—it is gross and domestic, but Mingi had never wanted it the other way.

“Song Mingi-ssi, why are you sighing?” The Captain of the aircraft, Kim Hyung-seo asked. She flew the plane on the other day, so it’s his turn now.

“Hmm? The weather is clear most of the way, so it’s a sigh of relief, noona.”

“Hmm. How’s your love life goin’? I haven’t got much luck these days.”

“Still the same. Although I don’t want to reveal who they are but… we’ve been dating since first-year in the academy.”

“Whoa. What? First year of academy?! 5 years and you still callin’ me noona?! That’s some quality relationship there, you don’t wanna lose ‘em!”

“Yeah, h-they called me before flight. Wishing me luck, and said my friends will come over this evening.”

“Das great! You’re stationed in Altissia too, right? Or it’s just a transit?”

“Yeah, I’m stationed in Altissia. My lover is stationed there too,”

Hyung-seo didn’t ask any more questions, she’s afraid of invading Mingi’s privacy. But she’s really curious about the things—does Mingi live together? Did he do things when they were in the academy? Is he friends witht the famous government hacker Jeong Yunho?

“Hey, been wanting to ask you something, are you possibly friends with Jeong Yunho?” At the mention of his lover’s name, Mingi visibly tensed. Did she know about their relationship?

“Y-yeah, why?”

“Nah, just asking, since he’s currently stationed in Altissia too.”

“How’d you know?”

“My cousin Seonghwa, he’s friends with Yunho.”

“Park Seonghwa? As in who got the medal for being the best student in the graduation?”

“Yeah! You know him?”

“We’re close to each other. It’s a surprise that Seonghwa-hyung had never mentioned Ateez to you yet.”

“He mentioned it once, but not necessarily spilling the member’s names. _I just know him and Hongjoong are… together, y’know, and they’re so fucking cute!_ ” Hyung-seo whispered the last part. So she knew, and she’s kinda close to Seonghwa. Great.

“Hey, you have any plans for tonight?” Mingi asked.

“N-no, why? Don’t cheat on your lover over me.”

“Aw come on, I was gonna offer you to have a dinner at my place, Seonghwa and Hongjoong’s gonna be there at 7. Don’t worry, he-my lover’s gonna be there too.” Oops, Mingi slipped.

“He-wait. Oh, holy shit! You shouldn’t have said it out loud! Someone might hear us!” She whisper-shouted at Mingi’s clumsiness. They both giggled dumbly, and then tried to tone it down as they’re gonna fly for almost 4 more hours.

Mingi had just landed, he’s now finding the mop of light blue hair in the crowd. He himself had dyed his hair red, and it was still vibrant even though it’s been a month ago since he dyed it. These hair dyes these days lasts around 4 months, and will stay vibrant even washed and the will also come out colored since the chemicals used is different than the dyes decades ago.

Hyung-seo had followed him since she didn’t have a ride home, and their apartments are surpirsingly in the building, it’s just a different floor. Altissia is a small city rising from the ashes of Shenyang, a city destroyed by the non-atomic air strike 60 years ago. The city itself is another 4 hours from the capital, but it is still one of the busiest industrial cities you could ever find.

The red-haired man was walking out in the glass-walled hallway, it looked so full and crowded of people with different hair colors and different faces.

“Mingi-ah!” That mop of light blue hair waved a hand to him—he stood out of the crowd and quickly rushed to the end of the glass hallway, peeking his head out and smiled. Mingi walked quicker, even past some people, unable to contain his happiness of being able to meet Yunho again. He had flown thee past five days, three flight schedules out of Altissia in a row, and he’s tired. Usually after these kinds of schedules, the pilots must make a detailed report about the plane’s condition and the weather condition, they are given about three day’s time.

“Hey Mingi! Wait for me!” Hyung-seo shouted while giggling, it seems like Mingi has been missing this person a lot.

The said blue-haired person is wearing the government Admin’s badge on his white dress shirt, complimenting Mingi’s white pilot uniform, and they both looked like brothers from different mothers. But then Hyung-seo realized that the blue-haired guy is none other than Jeong Yunho, the famous government-paid hacker. He had so many aliases, and almost every one who’s currently working for the system knew him as the ruthless assassin, who could know where your money came from and where it went until it’s dispersed into the smallest digits and once you are suspicious, you will never be released from his grip.

“Hi! Mingi said you’ll kinda tag along with us!” This Yunho is surprisingly warm and very welcoming, chirpy and bright, some of the things even the wallflower in the office cannot see.

“Sunshine, could you wait outside while Hyung-seo noona and I write down some post-flight mini-reports? ”Hyung-seo definetely caught the pet name in her ears as she walked behind them.

“Sure thing, I’ll buy you coffee?”

“Mmm, sounds good.”

“Noona, do you want me to buy something too? I’m buying coffee for him,”

“Ah, no thanks, it’s okay.”

Once they got into the car, Hyung-seo is amazed by the luxurious interior and the brand of the car itself. The sedan looked like as if it is bought off from Athanasia’s sector 2, because not only it is a limited edition photochromic color, which could change from ultramarine blue to black when exposed to sunlight, but it’s also the custom small decals that caught her eyes.

It was heavily modified in the inside, with the one of the most advanced GPS and the small knick-knacks—she could almost still feel their youth energy resurfacing.

“Who are you exactly, Song Mingi?” She asked from the backseat.

“Me? Song Joong-ki’s hidden son.” He smiled to her.

“Shit really?”

“Yeah. Dad’s never spoiled me though, he taught me to manage my money correctly. This car isn’t bought by my family’s wealth, purely just both me and my sunshine.”

“Ah,”

“Kim Hyungseo-ssi, you really have a great military track record, and you know a thing or two about Seonghwa and Hongjoong, am I right?” Yunho smiled from the driver’s seat.

“Noona, I’m sorry if he invades your privacy-”

“No, no, it’s okay. You just met me, Jeong Yunho-ssi, how’d you do that?”

“It’s a secret~”

When Hyung-seo went in to Mingi and Yunho’s apartment later that night, she was wearing an oversized hoodie and barefaced, completely different from her sharp image when she wore those tight uniforms. Mingi opened the door, revealing Seonghwa and Hongjoong already cuddling on the sofa inside, waiting for the last guest to come in before they all eat.

“Hyung-seo?” Seonghwa looked genuinely surpirsed when he saw her face.

“Seonghwa! Oh my god you changed so much since high school! I’m gonna call mom right now, she misses her favourite niece!”

“My god Bibi you never changed one bit.” Seonghwa sighed, gently shaking his head while getting off Hongjoong’s lap and strolled lazily to her.

“Bibi?” Hongjoong asked confusedly.

“You knew I used to live in Australia for 7 years, right? That’s where I got my slightly different accent from, and where me and her used to share a room. She’s called Bibi at school since everyone there would butcher her name, and my name was Severin Park instead of Seonghwa.”

“Yeah! He got a better name than mine!” She jokingly pointed at him.

“Why’d you never told me your english name? That sounds amazing!” Hongjoong didn’t know there was a chapter of Seonghwa’s life that he had yet to discover. The chapter where he’s called Severin instead of Seonghwa.

“But everyone called him Sevvy all the time though, guess that’s fair for me,” She scooped a handful of rice and took the other dishes to her plate, and joined the others who are eating already. Seonghwa then dialed his auntie’s number from her phone, hoping that she’s at least awake to greet somebody.

“ _Hyung-seo?_ ”

“Ah, imo, this is Seonghwa,”

“ _Seonghwa? Oh my god! You’re with her right now?_ ”

“Yeah, we’re in our friend’s apartment at Altissia, she happened to be friends with my pilot friend,”

“ _That’s it, I’m coming over to Altissia this weekend, I’m gonna make sure I am seeing you two with my own eyes._ ”

“Yes imo, you are welcome here, do you want to talk to Bibi?”

“ _Nah, she won’t listen to me anyways, have a good night Seonghwa!_ ”

“You too imo, bye,”

“Oi, what did mom say?” She asked him.

“Nothin’, let’s continue to eat.” Seonghwa picked his chopsticks again, and flopped down the couch before taking his bowl of food.


	12. Chapter 12

San had been chosen to become a guest trainer in Sector 1, and he had no problems with any of that. Yeosang was also stationed in Sector 1, meanwhile Jongho is currently in another city, pursuing a long-distance relationship with his significant other.

Both of them shared apartments, but their rooms were separate and their lives were also separate. Yeosang will take care of the cooking, and San will take care of the cleaning since he had more flexible schedule than the doctor.

He was having his break when he heard some sniffling in one of the corridors of Alliance tower. He’s sure that nobody is allowed in that section exept some doctors and officers like him, and the sobs sounded a bit too young. So he rushed over to the source, then found a mop of purple hair, and a body clad in some kind of hospital gown. He had never seen that sheen of purple before, even if he had date people with purple hair in the past years to figure out who the boy in his dreams were. _Could this boy be… it?_

“Hey,” San went over to him.

“H-huh?” The boy looked so broken and so disoriented, eyes darting everywhere as if he’s foreign in this facility. He is also shivering, either from the cold or afraid of San.

“Jung Wooyoung!” He heard a familiar voice calling probably this boy’s name. He then heard rushed footsteps accompanied with clinks, then Yeosang emerged with his doctor’s robes, still panting loudly because he probably ran from somewhere far, then quickly pats the boy to stand up.

“We’ll talk about this later, but promise, me, you tell no one about this.” Yeosang threatened San, and the younger just nods it off. “Come on now, let’s go to the infirmary,”

San continued his day as usual, but he’s having a hard time forgetting that mop of purple hair—it was the same shade that was ingrained in his dream all those years ago. He became intrigued, and he had to ask Yeosang about this later. Definitely.

Jung Wooyoung. A boy kept well hidden behind 23.000 words, and had only emerged now after the phrases, tenses and morphemes that had kept him behind the bushes. We never did discuss about him, nor was he mentioned in the chapters—not even a name was hinted.

He appeared in Hongjoong, San, Mingi, Yeosang and Yunho’s first day of school, being the purple haired boy who was scolded, and he looked mischevious. The second time he appeared was in San’s dream, being the chained boy across the older with purple hair and looking so broken. Mingi knew briefly about him, sometimes secretly playing with the purple-haired boy briefly in the past years.

Wooyoung is… in fact broken. The government may look very nice on the outside, but they have a dark secret that only high-ranking officials and trusted doctors knew.

_He is the government’s most prized possession, most valuable data. He is an experiment, long kept behind the curtains and in the dark._

Wooyoung had spent his childhood in a turbulent home, he used to sleep on the roof, avoiding child traffickers in Sector 7 slums that were hunting in the dead of night, snatching them one by one as they sleep. His father gambles most of the time, and he’d come home drunk after.

His mother, who was so close to him, would occasionally accompany him sleeping on the roof because she’s quite busy working in Sector 5 as a… what you call a sex worker to provide for her family of 5. Wooyoung is the youngest out of five, the smallest and the most lean, but he’s the most independent and bright child the family had.

His education was abstract, he still didn’t know how to read and write at the age of 8, he only knew how to differenciate banknotes from their colors. The number he only ever knew was his birthday, 26th of November 2069. He never knew the national anthem, he had never been outside the wall—overall, his life is kind of miserable. The only thing he had got for an identification is his cheap tracking microchip that is so old and hackable—he’d be gone in the radar by just a few minutes.

When he was just 10, he was snatched by the child traffickers that were hunting, because one of them jumped on the roof and knocked Wooyoung out before he could even wake up from his sleep. He was taken into their headquarters down in Sector 6, and his microchip that’s placed in the wrist is hacked easily, and with that, there’s no more Jung Wooyoung in this country.

He’s the only child that survived the knockouts. The others were too weak and too fragile, and Wooyoung’s willpower is too much for just a neck slice. He is the smallest out of the total of 4 children caught, yet he woke up the earliest and struggled to break free. He knew all the tricks to open up from the ropes, he had all the flexibility that made it possible for him to slowly coax his hands out of the binding.

He thought he was lucky when he saw the public security force breaking in to the cellar and took him away to a clean place, but he was not ready for what’s going to happen next.

Wooyoung was taken into an all-white place, seated in an MRI scan device, and injected with anesthesia before what could possibly be an MRI scan and other medical check-ups. He woke up feeling a bit drowsy and disoriented, but he could feel his hands strapped with soft leather to the bed’s railings, an IV drip attached to his right hand, and his ankles both bound with the same material.

A doctor then came in from the door, her red heels clacking and her white robes only added the amount of light in Wooyoung’s eyes. He wasn’t used to this sype of brightness, and this type of environment. It looked so bland and monotonic, could he survive here?

_“From now on, your codename is Eleven Twenty-Six, and you will be obedient to us.”_

Wooyoung was dragged into the familiar white walls of the facility, with Yeosang blatantly ignoring his cries of pain as he felt his calf muscle pull. He never got the chance to be treated with care, always with violence and roughness that had never ended. This new doctor could be the same.

When he was finally in the infirmary, he finally had got a look on Yeosang’s face. He is genuinely afraid of him, and the golden nametag indicated that he had climbed the ranks high enough to supervise Wooyoung alone. The infirmary itself is like a cluster of rooms, so Yeosang went to one and locked the door.

“Hello, Jung Wooyoung. My name is Kang Yeosang, but they said you are accustomed to call us doctors, so… yeah, I guess you could call me Doctor Yeosang.” Wooyoung was perplexed by the voice, since he had a small frame, yet such a low voice. “Oh yeah, we’re actually in the same age, born in 2069. So I guess if there’s only two of us in the room, feel free to call me Yeosang,”

Wooyoung got even more perplexed, since he haven’t really had a friend that’s his age. But he guessed life would be a little more fun than usual.

“O-okay, D-Y-Yeosang-ssi,”

“You got scolded after training, didn’t you?” Yeosang looked genuinely concerned as he lifts the short-sleeved shirt the purple-haired boy was wearing. He could see angry marks of blue and red because of the harsh training against a combat android, and some red marks on his cheeks because of the slaps he got.

Wooyoung’s clumsy, that’s one thing, and he’s super sloppy this morning, he felt too sick to even lift his hands in the warm-ups. Not to mention the freezer-like temperatures that the training rooms have—it’s utter hell for his overworked body. 

“You look kinda pale,” Yeosang went closer, then he touched Wooyoung’s forehead. “My god, you’re burning up,” The doctor seemed to swipe his thin tablet to see the younger’s reports, and yes, his microchip had detected a temperature spike this morning in the middle of the training session. It was 36.5 from the start, and spiked in mere minutes to 39.8—before staying stagnant at around 38.9 after he had cried and rested a little.

“Wait here, I’ll find some meds to hopefully tone it down,” Yeosang instructed him, then went over to the room’s counter, searching for available paracetamol. He luckily found one, but despite the meds, it wouldn’t be enough for the body. Wooyoung swallowed the pill with a sour face, since he knew the bitter aftertaste of the medicine too well on his tongue.

“Yah San, I know you’re on break, I have a favor,”

“ _What do you need me to do?_ ”

“Do you bring your usual extra jacket today? I didn’t bring mine, and it’s kinda an emergency here,”

“ _I have mine in my locker, SL PP._ ”(Share Location, Paperplane)

“Alright, see ya later.”

Paperplane is an app created by Yunho, which allowed them to message very privately and undetected by the government, since discussing issues like this would be very much a disaster if known, plus, it’s only known by 7 of them, so the app is not leaked. Yunho made sure to register it secretly to the government’s list, paying it off as a messaging and translating app for foreign people, so that it wouldn’t look suspicious.

Yeosang quickly shared his location to San, and 10 minutes later, he heard a ping message that stated for the older to pick it up in the front door. He took it, and looked at the black fluffy jacket that was customized by Hongjoong with acrylic paint and other materials, it would definetely fit quite good in Wooyoung’s rather lean and skinny frame.

“Here, wear this. Should warm you up a little while we walk to your room.” Wooyoung took the fluffy jacket and puts it on him—and he smelled some kind of nice cologne still lingering on the piece of fabric.

“Who’s is this doctor?” Wooyoung asked him, since he couldn’t stop smelling the faint scent of the cologne whoever this person is wearing. And he could also smell something on Yeosang, but it’s more like a flowery perfume—a soft scent that usually female doctors wear.

“It’s my friend San’s. He’s the one who found you before me, if I could recall correctly, why?”

“He smells good,” Wooyoung kept the jacket close to him, still feeling sluggish because of the fever but he felt a little better by the extra layer of clothing he had.

“Oh, he occasionally puts that cologne on since he’ an air-force trainer—because he’s usually sweaty and smelly like a garbage can,”

“He’s handsome and kind though, you shoud be grateful doctor,” Wooyoung absentmindedly said, completely not knowing what spewed out of his mouth because of his current fever brain.

“Yeah? Come on now, we’ll have to get you to your room,” Yeosang guided him, then puts the password to the lock before opening it. He led Wooyoung in, and noticed the boy had zero personal belongings, save the few colored shirts that looked too formal if you wear it in the facility.

Yeosang read over the agreement for him to look after Wooyoung as a guardian again, and it stated that the doctors were allowed to ‘gift’ Wooyoung with things if he’s doing good. He’s definetely buying the younger some chocolates and turtlenecks.The doctors were also not at a constant monitor by the government, so Yeosang could flex his feel a little in the small legroom he had.

“What colors do you like, Wooyoung?” Yeosang asked him while the boy nearly slept.

“I like… black. I like dark colors. I don’t like white, it’s too bright for me,” White. What an irony. The walls and the floors were all titanium white.

“Can I… keep the jacket doctor? I know it’s not my rights to-”

“You can keep it, as long as you’d like, San won’t mind, he had too much sweaters in his wardrobe,”

“Really?!” This time, Wooyoung squealed like a small child.

“Yeah, keep it.”


	13. Chapter 13

“About Wooyoung,” Yeosang started when both of them are having their dinner. “He’s…. he’s- my god why can’t I say this?! Fuck- he’s an experiment, San,”

“What? Scientific experiment?!”

“Yes,” Yeosang’s tone is now somber, he’s too sad at the fact. San thought Yeosang was joking, but upon hearing that answer, he is genuinely afraid. “They didn’t tell me what I was signing up for, they said it had a real high paycheck and just shoved the paper with little details to make me sign it,”

“Fuck,” San gripped his hair tight, and sighed aloud. “Where did my jacket go, by the way?” He asked, in attempt to lighten up the mood.

“Wooyoung’s keeping it. He likes your cologne.”

“I’m gonna give you more hoodies tomorrow morning for him, definetely. Hell, if he likes my cologne, I’m gonna buy it in district 2 while I’m on break tomorrow,” San looked passionate, and Yeosang couldn’t put a finger to why he’s so passionate about. “I’m gonna make him the happiest boy alive—I doubt he’s gonna live long under the system,”

“I doubt it too San, no matter how hard I tried to ignore it. He could come to me with limbs already severed by the combat androids, his skin red and blue, his cheeks crimson because of a slap—anything could fucking happen and I also doubt he’s the only one. There must’ve been more,”

“Gotta tell our dear hacker then, I’ll call him now.” San quickly dialed the numbers, then not long after, there’s a sleepy voice answering it.

“Sorry for waking you up Yun, but we really got a problem here and we need your help.”

“ _Wha’ kinda help?_ ”

“Make a call feature in PP, and I’ll explain the problems in chat.”

“ _Got it. Whatever it is, it’s concerning all of us then._ ”

Yeosang had also heard it, and finally allowed himself to be assured that at least Wooyoung’s gonna be fine under his care. He’d make sure the boy is well-fed, have proper clothes, and live a happy life as happy as the system would provide him.

San had finished his meal extra quick, moving into his room to pack 10 of his hoodies and fit it in his small gym bag, and also sprayed a little of that cologne in the middle of the clothing. He’s not sure if it’s enough, but at least the boy will get a little boost for his day.

San went on to type all the things that Yunho had to track over and possibly do, and he’ll gladly help anything if his schedule is available. He began to do as what Yunho taught him all thoe years ago—tracking down records using only microchip serial number data that he obtained from Yeosang. San puts all the passcodes with practiced ease, and now he’s logged in to the government’s database.

Wooyoung’s serial number belonged to a group of kids, possibly younger than him and his serial number is a number longer than your usual microchip serial number. San used to ponder what the extra box in the record app does, but now he gets it. That extra box is for the extra number.

_1126-1117-2810-1._

_Name: Jung Wooyoung._

_DOB/POB: 26-11-2069/ Athanasia City, Sector 7, District 8._

_Parents: N/A_

_Current Guardian: Kang Yeosang_

_Gender: Male_

_Height: 173 cm_

_Hair color: Purple_

_Allergies: Lactose._

_Current Location: *map of sector 1*_

_Microchip Model(s): Atha 12(Past, 2069-2079), Atha Platinum 115(Current)_

Sector 7 huh? San thought. He remembered that time when child trafficking market was at it’s highest peaks, and children from Sector 7 slums were an easy target since generally they do have manier siblings, and their parents are busy enough that it could count as child neglect. And about the microchip, his past microchip was the cheapest at the time—and he could only think of one thing; Did Wooyoung got trafficked before he got here? And about the newer microchip that the younger has until now, it’s still the most-protected and most hack-proof microchip—that your average hacker cannot bypass it’s systems without getting detected by the government.

He puts that thought behind, and started to think what he could do to help after this. Flying him to another region is not possible, hacking his microchip would also need Yunho in place, and getting him out of Sector 1 seemed impossible.

“Yah Yeosang, could you take him out to our place? It’s still in sector 1, right?” San asked warily, since he knew it’s a nearly impossible task to do.

“Well, technically you could, but we cannot stay for long, or else the government would think we are conspiring something against them. They have trusted me enough, and since Wooyoung is not the worst case, I think he could stay here for up to 4 hours.”

“These is a much worse case?”

“Yeah, apparently those people were not ‘obidient’, so the government bans them for even leaving Alliance tower. Wooyoung is allowed to roam in Sector 1 freely, but he needs authorisation to go to Sector 2, and that’s it. He can’t go anywhere else. And I’ll have to accompany him too.”

“All right. Sounds like a plan, and we’ll hear more from Yunho probably later.”

Yeosang had made sure to be extra early this morning. He wanted to avoid attention, and he wanted to make sure that Wooyoung is up early for his medical check up today. He saw that Wooyoung’s temperature is still in 37.8, which is still kinda bad, but better than before, at the very least.

He knocked on the door before he opened it gently, and he saw the boy still clad in San’s jacket, sleeping soundly and silently against the thin matress. It was still 6 in the morning, and Yeosang had requested a day-off for Wooyoung so that his body could recover faster. Last week’s report had apparently stated that Wooyoung started to develop his nightmares again, and his memory reset is due for another 6 months.

Yeosang had heard about this… apparent memory reset. It’s supposed to make them forget the things that they had done, mundane things to them, but it is still flawed, so he couldn’t forget people who are dear to him, and his traumas. But that didn’t stop the memory reset that happened every two years to Wooyoung. He’s bound to remember again in approximately two and a half years, so the scientists will try their best to not delay the reset—and Wooyoung is due for another half-a-year. That explains his recurring nightmares and discomfort—he started to remember what happened to him two years ago before the apparent memory reset.

That memory reset is also what’s causing him to have a bright, silky purple hair that people wouldn’t grow out of their normal heads. The chemical was injected directly to his brain by a surgery, and those chemicals that had been the byproduct of the reaction is the same thing as the purple dye chemical—but it lasts for years—and will probably last forever, since the text subject before him also had the same thing—and he’s currently 50, still with that same purplish shade on his hair.

They had no time. Everything must be arranged from now, whether they like it or not, and they have to be ready for anything. For now, The only thing that Yeosang could do is to gain the boy’s trust and wait.

“Wooyoung-ah,” Yeosang pats his shoulders softly, making the latter stir and whine. He had turned on the lights, but the boy is still buried under mountains of blankets.

“Why this early Doc?”

“San brought a gift for you. Actually, he brought you ten gifts.”

“Ten what?!”

“Don’t tell me you’ve never got one-”

“People don’t usually bring me gifts, Yeosang-ssi,” He looked at Wooyoung, then under the dim lights, he could see the boy crying and wiping his tears against the paws of the jacket. “People don’t usually bring me gifts, l-let alone a s-stranger…. Thank you so much Yeosang-ssi!” Wooyoung now clasped his hands against Yeosang’s , and bowed down as a sign of gratefullness.

“No need to thank me, do you want me to call San right now? He’s still at home,”

“Yes please!”

“H-hello? San-ssi?”

“ _Yes? Who might this be?_ ” Wooyoung was surprised by the melodic voice, it had captivated his ears and now his brains might not even function properly after hearing this.

“I-it’s Wooyoung—thank you so much for the gifts! How can I possibly repay you-”

“ _Hey, hey it’s okay Wooyoung-ah, I feel repaid when I see you smile,_ ”

“Thank you again San-ssi! Really!”

“ _Yeah, nice to hear that you’re happy. Now, I really have to get ready, goodbye Wooyoung-ah, let’s talk again sometime,_ ”

“Goodbye and thank you San-ssi, have a nice day!”

Wooyoung smiled giddily, since he’s excited what they could have gotten him. Yeosang had already opened the duffel bag and laid San’s hoodies on the bed, the dark colors standing out and made a contrast against it’s white background. Wooyoung clasped a hand on his mouth, because even in his still-feverish brain, he could see clearly what it is, it’s clothes. Comfortable clothes that he actually liked—oversized and warm. Sure, he liked the jacket, but this is more like a daily clothing to him, and he couldn’t really let the words out of his mouth, he’s too happy.

He then carefully picked a black hoodie, then laid it out carefully to see it on it’s full glory. It looked so simple, yet magnificent, with a writing in simple fonts that said: ‘ _I’m dreaming a dream._ ’ He could aslo smell the faint scent of the same cologne on it and on the other hoodies—it had totally made his day, or even his week.

“Oh yeah, your schedule will be a med checkup at 8, and a rest for the day. I have made a request to let you in me and San’s place, still in sector one, hope you’ll be okay with it.”

“Sure! I haven’t been out for a long time!” Wooyoung beamed, his smile overpowering every possible dark cloud that’s about to rain on them.

The younger then changes his clothing into the usual attire in the facility, his uniform or some sorts, consisting of equally white long-sleeved tee and jogger pants made out of canvas material. He then doubled it with the white hoodie he go from San, with the simple font of ‘ _everyday’s a finale show_ ’ written on top of it, since his jackets are all too small, and the system’s mandatory jackets aren’t warm enough.

They walked the hallways with nearly zero people to the infirmary, because Yeosang, even if he’s a doctor, won’t bring everything for a medical check up, he could only perform a little with his current apparatuses.

Yeosang checked the date to make sure, and it had stated that it’s 20th of March. He apparently smiled sadly at the fact, remembering that Jongho’s currently out of town and is probably too busy to even call. He’s okay with that, but it surely had saddened him, since it’s their 4th year of anniversary and still no missed calls nor message from the other. Yeosang then felt the tug of his small padlock pendant from his 9th month anniversary with Jongho, it is still hanging there and was never put down even for a second.

“Why are you smiling Doc? Did something happen?” Wooyoung absentmindedly asked, while still scooping his cold oatmeal with brown sugar and milk.

“It’s my anniversary date with my lover. I’m happy, but my lover isn’t in town to celebrate it with me.” He answered simply, choosing the words with careful precaution and made sure to not slip the ‘he’ in his sentence.

“Woah! I’ve never had one before! Could you tell me what it’s like Doc?”

“At my place, alright?” Yeosang compromised, since he couldn’t be reckless when CCTVs are present in every corner of the room.

“Everything’s fine except for your fever, do you feel any headaches?” Yeosang asked for the last time, he wanted to make sure that Wooyoung is okay in this fine spring day.

“Not anymore Doc, ‘m better.”

“Okay, then let’s change your clothes, and go to my place if you’re really curious,”

“Yay!” Wooyoung’s face is still a bit reddish affected by the fever, but his temperature had significantly gone down after a round of steaming shower and breakfast. It means his body is recovering well and could go training again tomorrow.


	14. Chapter 14

The younger was visibly awed by the tall structures that the surface of sector 1 had, because apparently his guardian before Yeosang was very possessive of him and had to be put into a restraining order against Wooyoung specifically because of his inhumanly obsession over the boy. Yeosang shuddered at the fact—Wooyoung could have been harmed if there were not enough good people in this facility.

“We’re here.” They went to the tall, apartment-like building that had a sign that said; ‘authorised staff living quarters. Guests are allowed from 7.00 am until 8.00 pm.’ Wooyoung was registered as a guest—his microchip tagged, then they are allowed to come in since it’s past seven already. San is probably in the room or snacking in the canteen downstairs getting ready to teach his class usually at 8.30 am, supervising the taekwondo teams in the forces while also mentoring the air force specifically.

“Oi San!” Yeosang’s call had made the officer cringe and nearly choke on his banana milk—turning to the doctor with a sour face. But once he saw the purple haired boy, San had completely erased that look—he can’t bear to see Wooyoung upset because of him.

“Hi.” He said, greeting them both who are coming to his direction. He is still in a bit of a shock, his heart is still racing and his breathing a bit uneven, but he tried to calm himself down in front of Wooyoung. San was surprised to see Wooyoung wearing his white hoodie, it’s one of his favorite hoodie—and the boy looked so fluffy in that.

“I won’t teach until 10, so I can keep you guys company.” San smiled to them, then followed the two to back to their room at the 12th floor. Yeosang had checked his phone again to see if Jongho had left any messages, then he asked San if any packages had arrived in the reception or not, and San said no.

“I checked ‘em just after you left, still nothin’.” San shrugged, he knew Yeosang was waiting for anything that came from Jongho, since it’s their anniversary day. Wooyoung looked at both of them weirdly, seemingly aware of the tension that both of them had.

“We’re not dating, Wooyoung, if that’s you’re wondering about. I’m still single, and Yeosang’s lover is out of town.” San managed to break the younger’s curiousity, and the purple haired boy cutely pouted.

“Hey, is Jongho still stationed in Altissia or has he moved Insomnia?” San asked, since they are in the room already. It’s a small, two-room apartment with a small balcony and kitchen, living room and a 45 inch LED TV.

“He moved to Insomnia already, but his work is piling these days, he doesn’t even call once a week anymore,”

“Aw that sucks. I knew you were waiting for something—this is what having a lover feels like, Wooyoung, especially in a long distance relationship.” San explains to the younger, and he nodded furiously, taking all the information that he could into his head.

“Yeah, it’s true, but we also had agreed on this in the first place—he said he’ll come home and bring much money by working at the place so we could live a stable life.”

“Wait… your lover is a he? I thought… I was the only one attracted to boys-” Wooyoung covered his mouth—he didn’t know that there are people like him too.

“Wooyoung, please remember that nobody’s alone in this world. There must be others who are like you, who thinks the same way as you, and you will someday find them. People who can relate to you, who supports you in every matter even if you have to risk your life for it—it’s what lovers and best friends are for. People who like you, and could compliment you in the best possible ways, even though sometimes there are differences.” San could tell this by experience in his turbulent relationships with people—he still couldn’t find somebody who could relate to him, but hopefully he does.

“Really? C-could you guys tell me what’s it like to be in that position?” Wooyoung sat down on the couch along with Yeosang, meanwhile San is sitting at the dining table’s chair.

“It feel like… I don’t know. I just feel comfortable to open, to break down into pieces, because I know he could relate to my problems, he was in my shoes before, and he’ll help me collect my broken pieces,” Yeosang had started to look up as if he’s daydreaming, until a familiar ringtone had rung his phone.

“Oh my god! He’s calling!” Yeosang rose up from his seat and expectantly answered the phone—he puts it on speaker so that Wooyoung could also hear it.

“ _Hi Yeosang-hyung, sorry I couldn’t be there with you in Sector 1 right now,_ ”

“It’s okay Jongho-ya, I know you’re busy, but anyways, happy anniversary,”

“ _Hm, happy anniversary to us. I’ve sent something for you Yeosangie, but I think it’ll arrive in two more days—there has been delays because of Insomnia’s bad weather, sorry for the wait. I sent you-_ ”

“Don’t spoil the fucking surprise Choi Jongho! You think it’s funny?!”

“ _Yeah! I like seeing your sulky face, ‘cause it’s pretty either way,_ ”

“Do you know what regret feels like?”

“ _No no no, don’t send those selfies again—I’m gonna miss you more,_ ”

“Sure, can’t promise I won’t send them though. Go back to work now, even if I couldn’t see, I have a feeling it’s piling up on your desk right now. Let’s talk again at night, have a nice day Jongho-ya!”

“ _Hmm, have a nice day too Yeosangie-hyung! I love you!_ ”

“Love you too big baby, byeee~”

Wooyoung liked the dynamic between the two, it seemed like they had been together for a long time despite the distance. They both are also natural—not fabricated like the films that Wooyoung usually sees in the common room TV. He usually cringes in their calls—like calling each other by the overused pet names and overdramatically exclaiming that they missed each other.

“How long has your relationship has been going, Yeosang-ssi?”

“4 years, we’ve been dating for 4 years already.” The doctor looked so proud of himself and his relationship with Jongho. He then proceeded to open his phone, showing their past photos before going in separate places for work.

“This was our first anniversary, we celebrated it in his apartment with friends,” Yeosang showed the video of them jumping around, shoving both Jongho and Yeosang to kiss, and when they did, everyone who had a partner also kissed theirs—except for San. He was still dating Minji at the time, and he called her to say a little word or two.

“Then, this is our second,” Yeosang then shows a video where his hair color is platinum blonde, and Jongho’s hair is apple red. It was visibly at a bit dark, with the curtains drawn, Yeosang was on Jongho’s lap, laying on his side on their grey sofa-bed while binging the dramas and eating popcorns. “It was in our friend’s house at Sector 2, we were watching Train to Busan 3 with them.”

“I like your blonde hair, Yeosang-ssi, I think it looked fresh on you,” Wooyoung looked at the heartwarming video again, he someday wanted to have this kind of relationship. He’s still 22, going to 23, but he wanted this before he could grow old or die.

“Really? I dyed it pink at the 3rd anniversary, look,” He then showed a video of both of them on a grassy field, eating sandwiches with Jongho videotaping Yeosang who’s eating a bit messily. “ _Hyung, you have mayo on your chin,_ ” Then a hand from out of the frame came in, bringing a napkin and wiping the chin and lovingly poked Yeosang’s cheek.

“San-ssi, did you have any experience on dating too?” Wooyoung expectantly asked him, to which San blushed—since his relationships were… as the writer earlier said, turbulent.

“I had, but… those were either toxic or short-lived. Sometimes, you could feel a false high when you’re with somebody, especially with somebody that you just knew or you just like them because of their appearance.” San sadly stated, his figure slumped more on the chair.

“C-could you also tell me? If you are uncomfortable-” Even if he didn’t want to, San can’t resist the curiosity of Wooyoung.

“No, I want to tell them. So that you don’t fall into the same hole that I fell into.” San took a bag of big chips, then offered it to Wooyoung. “Eat these, because the story could get quite stressful,”

“So basically, this is the story that all my close friends knew. Back when I was still in the second year in the academy, I dated a girl in my winter break. She looked beautiful, and she clicked so well with me in our short period of meeting. So we decided to pursue a long-distance relationship.” San sighs, he really did regret his past actions. “She called me constantly every night, then it became a habit. It was also the beginning of our relationship’s downfall. She fed my fragile insecure past self with a temporary satisfaction which are her words, and by the time I realized it, well, it’s too late. She had already manipulated me to send money for her school tuition—which she used for luxuries rather than going to further education, and all the other toxic things that made me dependent on her. To quote Mingi, he said ‘happiness doesn’t always lie in a diamond ring’ since I was so ready to propose to her. We broke up after a year dating, and I still feel sorry for my friends who were picking my broken pieces up at that time.” Wooyoung is now aggresively eating the chips he had opened, totally immersed in San’s story.

“These kinds of story should be in the dramas! Why haven’t I seen one before?!”

“People like happy endings Wooyoung, and they wanted to sell the dream of having a perfect relationship—but in reality, those expectations are unreal. They were never real, there will always be problems, you just gotta solve it together I guess.” San smiled sadly, he really felt a pang of guilt for Wooyoung’s condition. He could relate so much to the boy, fragile, controlled and vulnerable, but the only difference is that San had no one to relate his problems with, and Wooyoung had him now.

The purple-haired boy pouted while stuffing his mouth more with the chips, probably still disturbed by San’s story.

“Hey, lemme ask you something. What is your dream civilization like?” San asked.

“M-mine, San-ssi? I just want everyone to stay like they are, but… for me personally, I wanna go around the world freely, not trapped like this. I want other people who are trapped to be released, so that they could see the world freely—everyone deserves freedom, right?” Wooyoung asked innocently to San, and he immediately agreed. People like Wooyoung deserved a lot more freedom than this.

“What’s your bucket list then?” San asked again, this time purely out of curiousity rather than testing.

“I wanna go to a roadtrip! ‘Cause everytime I go out, I don’t remember, they’ll always make me eat those weird pink pills that make me forget and I hate it! Sometimes I’d remember, but it’s always so bloody and so dark, I don’t like it.”

Both of them smiled sadly, since they knew Wooyoung was made to become a killing machine. A killing machine that would not remember and would always be obidient whatever they do to him. A killer that won’t even remember what had made himself human. _A perfect weapon._

# Chapter 15

It has been two months since that happened. In May, they were hectic as ever, and even more busy on planning to extract Wooyoung, since their time will be due within six months.

Seonghwa and Hongjoong were purely shocked when they heard about this. Sure, the older knew grim facts about the unforgiving system, but never like this. The fact that Yeosang got to be trusted with one of the government’s most valuable asset is something different.

Hongjoong, as the leader and the strategist of the group, had devised a plan to extract Wooyoung, and possibly the others to a safe place, where they would defect their own government and rebel against them. This is violation of human rights, and they’ll do what they could to fix that. Nobody deserves this, not even Wooyoung, who seemingly is used to these kinds of treatment.

“Joong, I told you his microchip is Atha Plat 115! Once you break the last firewall, the person would be in an immediate comatose state! It had also risk of temporary amnesia, which could take years to recover, are you sure that we, I mean, _we_ , can pull this off?!” Seonghwa asked. “I remember that time when Yunho broke Mingi’s microchip firewall—and Mingi nearly died! His microchip is even cheaper than what Wooyoung had!”

“So what?! At least people knew what the government had tried to do to certain unlucky individuals!”

“We’re gonna get fucking executed with potassium chloride injection! Do you want that?!” Seonghwa was in his last straw, the doctor is tired of telling his lover to stop and let it be—let the world flow their way, and not everything will go according his way.

“If I die, hundreds of them inside lives. My life is no greater than their own.” Hongjoong had stopped drawing, and now he faced Seonghwa with a strong expression in his eyes.

“No, Hongjoong-”

“Seonghwa, I think… I need a break. Please?” Hongjoong stood up, straightening the hem of his shirt and walked past his lover.

“A… break? Hongjoong what do you mean by that?”

“I need some time alone, Hwa.” He sighed, then turned away to walk out the room. Seonghwa then heard the front door being opened and closed, indicating that Hongjoong had gone out to breath some fresh air. Seonghwa knew his lover doesn’t like any alcohols, but… he is still worried of what Hongjoong might do in this dead of night.

The streetlamps that loomed his figure had continuously been Hongjoong’s only source of direction as he peered his face down and puts on a hood on his head. He knew the risks of releasing Wooyoung, yet he is still stubborn and adamant on getting him out this month. Hongjoong also knew it’s kind of impossible, yet he still wanted something to achieve at least.

Hongjoong wanted people to live better lives, hell, he wanted Wooyoung to be free. That kid had sure caught his and Seonghwa’s heart, and had became Seonghwa’s favorite child in just a span of a month by calling. He is bright like a constant source of light, like summer sun rays in the cold winter nights, and when his photos were sent, that kid sure looked like a happy one, clinging close to San and Yeosang as always.

But, the happiest smiles comes from the saddest of all people. Wooyoung is a constant subject of torture and overworking, he had frequent trips to the hospital just because his ribcage have been broken too much and needed surgery. Wooyoung would always ask for San, where he is and where he went to Yeosang, because that kid is close to the air force officer since they both could relate so much over their problems.

Hongjoong had unexpectedly stumbled upon a hole-in-the wall restaurant, yellow and pink neon lights sparkling brightly in the dark alleyway on his right, called God’s Menu.

“Welcome! What brings you here?” The waiter asked, probably at his age.

“I… need a comfort food, do you guys have any recomendation?” Hongjoong asked.

“Ah! We do have samgyetang and wonton noodles, which one would you like?”

“Samgyetang and rice would be nice. Do you guys have tteokbokki here? If there is, I’d like to take it home with me,”

“Of course! My name is Han Jisung, at your service. Chan hyung! Tteokbokki and samgyetang for this customer here!” Jisung shouted to an older-looking person, and that person only puts a thumbs-up before scooping the soup from the big pot.

“Han, did Seungmin message you about the updates on Hyunjin or Jeongin?” The chef asked to the waiter.

“Nah, no updates. Seungmin also haven’t got a word from Yeosang regarding the kid he’s currently tasked with.”

 _Wait… Yeosang?_ “You guys know Yeosang? As in Kang Yeosang the doctor stationed in sector 1?” Hongjoong asked the waiter, who’s leaning against the counter, waiting for the food to be done.

“You know him too?” Han, or Jisung, looked a bit suspecting to Hongjoong.

“Yeah. Pretty sure he mentioned Ateez if you knew he’s guarding a kid in there,” Hongjoong puts on a small smile. “I’m Kim Hongjoong, 1st rank air force officer in Altissia, and the leader of Ateez.”

Han then looked around, to make sure no one is hearing or snooping on them. “Ateez? So you guys were the ones Jeong Yunho is associated to?”

“Yeah! He’s currently in town, though I’m not mentioning where he lives.”

“Woah! I’ve been wanting to talk to him about some matters! Could you please bring him here next time you visit? We’re open from 5 pm until 1 am!”

“I’d gladly bring him in. Also, if you’re curious about how Yeosang is doing, he’s doing great with that kid Wooyoung.”

“Oh my god! Thank you so much for the info! I’m glad they’re alright then! I miss Hyunjin and Jeongin a lot, they used to be my friend before their parents were caught by the police and both were sent to the government,”

“What are you guys talkin’ about? Sounds interesting,” The chef, Chan, asked them.

“He knew about the experiments,” Jisung mentioned it so casually. “His friend Yeosang is the one handling Wooyoung, and this is Hongjoong, leader of Ateez.”

“Ah! Ateez! I’ve heard a lot about you guys recently! The good things of course,”

“Really? How popular are we in your… circle?”

“We mostly knew about your hacker Yunho, and Changbin really looked up to him—he’s been meaning to get all the accessible datas of Hyunjin and Jeongin but never had the chance to,”

“Noted,” Hongjoong ate the food he’s served, and it honestly tasted so good—it reminded him of Seonghwa’s cooking. “By the way, these are so good!”

“Thanks,”

The door of the diner was opened by a gentle push, the pink and yellow lights seeping in with the person that’s entering. It was a familiar mop of black fluffy hair that Hongjoong saw everyday, holdng a phone and currently still wearing the shirt with outer coat and white joggers.

“So this is where you’ve been ‘uh?” That deep voice sure made the man who’s eating whip his head to the source, and the other two were also suspicious—who knows what Hongjoong did to anger this person.

“Seonghwa, I can explain-”

“Don’t. Continue what you’re doing, I’m just checking on you—who knows somethin’ happened,” Seonghwa smiled, then turned back to get out of that place.

“You don’t have any morning shift in the hospital right?” Hongjoong asked him, and Seonghwa shook his head. “Stay here then, these people are more interesting than you could ever think,”

“Mkay,”

“I bought tteokbokki for you, thought you wanted a late night snack-”

“Is it with prawns? Or is it not?”

“Haven’t checked them yet, but probably,” Hongjoong opened the bag and cup, delighted to see Seonghwa’s favorite addition on a tteokboki is there.

“Hey mate, I noticed your accent,” Bang Chan stood in front of Seonghwa. “Aussie?”

“Used to live there for seven years, still got the vocabs ‘till now, and my accent rubbed on him too,” Seonghwa nudged Hongjoong’s bicep—and his boyfriend is clearly not having it, since the soup on his spoon had nearly spilled to his shirt.

“You uncultured bitch! You nearly spilled my soup!”

“Shut your fucking cake hole, I did not!” Seonghwa was already headlocking Hongjoong, and they both giggled at their recent banter, it means that Hongjoong has calmed down already.

“So this is our favorite ankle biter, Wooyoung. He’s such a bright child, but a prankster as well. Sometimes would pretend that he’s sick so he’d get a call from us,” Seonghwa showed the picture he had of the purple-haired guy, smile wide and eyes forming cute crescents. Bang Chan laughed at that remark, since he had the same feeling with both Hyunjin and Jeongin.

He had finished his tteokbokki fast in this dead of night, and Hongjoong had finished his as well. The four of them talked until midnight, still so immersed in the topic and their ideals about the equality in the human race.

Back in the capital, San was called to the head scientist’s room, probably something related to Wooyoung.

“Ah, first-rank air force officer Choi San,”

“Lee Seunghyun-nim, what do you need of me?”

“I would like you to be Jung Wooyoung’s personal trainer between your teaching classes, since you already knew about him and you are also close to Kang Yeosang. I noticed he gets along well with his guardian, and maybe you could improve his sloppy fighting a little more. I also noticed the stark difference between how you teach the taekwondo team, they have gotten much better in just a month.”

“T-thank you, Lee Seunghyun-nim. When do I start training him and where exactly?”

“Alliance tower 34th floor, that floor is dedicated to one-on-one training, and Wooyoung’s room is in the 11th. You will start today, and his training will be from 9 am to 1 pm at teusdays and fridays, understood?”

“Yes sir. I’ll do my best.”

“The details of his training regiment is in the PC, and there are recordings of his previous trainings for you to evaluate.”

When San got out of the room, he sighed silently as he moved to the lift. He’s quite surprised at the request, but he couldn’t ask for more. At least now Wooyoung is in better hands. He wouldn’t get red cheeks after training, he’d probably get smooches and ice creams instead.

San quickly pressed the button to the 34th floor, hoping that it’d be fast enough so that he isn’t late on his first day teaching Wooyoung. He had kept his body in shape for years now, and his strict regiment of training had made his reflexes probably past 97% of other humans. He could quickly make the training androids broken—he showed it to the taekwondo team once, and he could do it again in front of Wooyoung.


	15. Chapter 15

It has been two months since that happened. In May, they were hectic as ever, and even more busy on planning to extract Wooyoung, since their time will be due within 4 months.

Seonghwa and Hongjoong were purely shocked when they heard about this. Sure, the older knew grim facts about the unforgiving system, but never like this. The fact that Yeosang got to be trusted with one of the government’s most valuable asset is something different.

Hongjoong, as the leader and the strategist of the group, had devised a plan to extract Wooyoung, and possibly the others to a safe place, where they would defect their own government and rebel against them. This is violation of human rights, and they’ll do what they could to fix that. Nobody deserves this, not even Wooyoung, who seemingly is used to these kinds of treatment.

“Joong, I told you his microchip is Atha Plat 115! Once you break the last firewall, the person would be in an immediate comatose state! It had also risk of temporary amnesia, which could take years to recover, are you sure that we, I mean, _we_ , can pull this off?!” Seonghwa asked. “I remember that time when Yunho broke Mingi’s microchip firewall—and Mingi nearly died! His microchip is even cheaper than what Wooyoung had!”

“So what?! At least people knew what the government had tried to do to certain unlucky individuals!”

“We’re gonna get fucking executed with potassium chloride injection! Do you want that?!” Seonghwa was in his last straw, the doctor is tired of telling his lover to stop and let it be—let the world flow their way, and not everything will go according his way.

“If I die, hundreds of them inside lives. My life is no greater than their own.” Hongjoong had stopped drawing, and now he faced Seonghwa with a strong expression in his eyes.

“No, Hongjoong-”

“Seonghwa, I think… I need a break. Please?” Hongjoong stood up, straightening the hem of his shirt and walked past his lover.

“A… break? Hongjoong what do you mean by that?”

“I need some time alone, Hwa.” He sighed, then turned away to walk out the room. Seonghwa then heard the front door being opened and closed, indicating that Hongjoong had gone out to breath some fresh air. Seonghwa knew his lover doesn’t like any alcohols, but… he is still worried of what Hongjoong might do in this dead of night.

The streetlamps that loomed his figure had continuously been Hongjoong’s only source of direction as he peered his face down and puts on a hood on his head. He knew the risks of releasing Wooyoung, yet he is still stubborn and adamant on getting him out this month. Hongjoong also knew it’s kind of impossible, yet he still wanted something to achieve at least.

Hongjoong wanted people to live better lives, hell, he wanted Wooyoung to be free. That kid had sure caught his and Seonghwa’s heart, and had became Seonghwa’s favorite child in just a span of a month by calling. He is bright like a constant source of light, like summer sun rays in the cold winter nights, and when his photos were sent, that kid sure looked like a happy one, clinging close to San and Yeosang as always.

But, the happiest smiles comes from the saddest of all people. Wooyoung is a constant subject of torture and overworking, he had frequent trips to the hospital just because his ribcage have been broken too much and needed surgery. Wooyoung would always ask for San, where he is and where he went to Yeosang, because that kid is close to the air force officer since they both could relate so much over their problems.

Hongjoong had unexpectedly stumbled upon a hole-in-the wall restaurant, yellow and pink neon lights sparkling brightly in the dark alleyway on his right, called God’s Menu.

“Welcome! What brings you here?” The waiter asked, probably at his age.

“I… need a comfort food, do you guys have any recomendation?” Hongjoong asked.

“Ah! We do have samgyetang and wonton noodles, which one would you like?”

“Samgyetang and rice would be nice. Do you guys have tteokbokki here? If there is, I’d like to take it home with me,”

“Of course! My name is Han Jisung, at your service. Chan hyung! Tteokbokki and samgyetang for this customer here!” Jisung shouted to an older-looking person, and that person only puts a thumbs-up before scooping the soup from the big pot.

“Han, did Seungmin message you about the updates on Hyunjin or Jeongin?” The chef asked to the waiter as he cooks the meal.

“Nah, no updates. Seungmin also haven’t got a word from Yeosang regarding the kid he’s currently tasked with.”

 _Wait… Yeosang?_ “You guys know Yeosang? As in Kang Yeosang the doctor stationed in sector 1?” Hongjoong asked the waiter, who’s leaning against the counter, waiting for the food to be done.

“You know him too?” Han, or Jisung, looked a bit suspecting to Hongjoong.

“Yeah. Pretty sure he mentioned Ateez if you knew he’s guarding a kid in there,” Hongjoong puts on a small smile. “I’m Kim Hongjoong, 1st rank air force officer in Altissia, and the leader of Ateez.”

Han then looked around, to make sure no one is hearing or snooping on them. “Ateez? So you guys were the ones Jeong Yunho is associated to?”

“Yeah! He’s currently in town, though I’m not mentioning where he lives.”

“Woah! I’ve been wanting to talk to him about some matters! Could you please bring him here next time you visit? We’re open from 5 pm until 1 am!”

“I’d gladly bring him in. Also, if you’re curious about how Yeosang is doing, he’s doing great with that kid Wooyoung.”

“Oh my god! Thank you so much for the info! I’m glad they’re alright then! I miss Hyunjin and Jeongin a lot, they used to be my friend before their parents were caught by the police and both were sent to the government,”

“What are you guys talkin’ about? Sounds interesting,” The chef, Chan, asked them.

“He knew about the experiments,” Jisung mentioned it so casually. “His friend Yeosang is the one handling Wooyoung, and this is Hongjoong, leader of Ateez.”

“Ah! Ateez! I’ve heard a lot about you guys recently! The good things of course,”

“Really? How popular are we in your… circle?”

“We mostly knew about your hacker Yunho, and Changbin really looked up to him—he’s been meaning to get all the accessible datas of Hyunjin and Jeongin but never had the chance to,”

“Noted,” Hongjoong ate the food he’s served, and it honestly tasted so good—it reminded him of Seonghwa’s cooking. “By the way, these are so good!”

“Thanks,”

The door of the diner was opened by a gentle push, the pink and yellow lights seeping in with the person that’s entering. It was a familiar mop of black fluffy hair that Hongjoong saw everyday, holdng a phone and currently still wearing the shirt with outer coat and white joggers.

“So this is where you’ve been ‘uh?” That deep voice sure made the man who’s eating whip his head to the source, and the other two were also suspicious—who knows what Hongjoong did to anger this person.

“Seonghwa, I can explain-”

“Don’t. Continue what you’re doing, I’m just checking on you—who knows somethin’ happened,” Seonghwa smiled, then turned back to get out of that place.

“You don’t have any morning shift in the hospital right?” Hongjoong asked him, and Seonghwa shook his head. “Stay here then, these people are more interesting than you could ever think,”

“Mkay,”

“I bought tteokbokki for you, thought you wanted a late night snack-”

“Is it with prawns? Or is it not?”

“Haven’t checked them yet, but probably,” Hongjoong opened the bag and cup, delighted to see Seonghwa’s favorite addition on a tteokboki is there.

“Hey mate, I noticed your accent,” Bang Chan stood in front of Seonghwa. “Aussie?”

“Used to live there for seven years, still got the vocabs ‘till now, and my accent rubbed on him too,” Seonghwa nudged Hongjoong’s bicep—and his boyfriend is clearly not having it, since the soup on his spoon had nearly spilled to his shirt.

“You uncultured bitch! You nearly spilled my soup!”

“Shut your fucking cake hole, I did not!” Seonghwa was already headlocking Hongjoong, and they both giggled at their recent banter, it means that Hongjoong has calmed down already.

“So this is our favorite ankle biter, Wooyoung. He’s such a bright child, but a prankster as well. Sometimes would pretend that he’s sick so he’d get a call from us,” Seonghwa showed the picture he had of the purple-haired guy, smile wide and eyes forming cute crescents. Bang Chan laughed at that remark, since he had the same feeling with both Hyunjin and Jeongin.

He had finished his tteokbokki fast in this dead of night, and Hongjoong had finished his as well. The four of them talked until midnight, still so immersed in the topic and their ideals about the equality in the human race.

Back in the capital, San was called to the head scientist’s room, probably something related to Wooyoung.

“Ah, first-rank air force officer Choi San,”

“Lee Seunghyun-nim, what do you need of me?”

“I would like you to be Jung Wooyoung’s personal trainer between your teaching classes, since you already knew about him and you are also close to Kang Yeosang. I noticed he gets along well with his guardian, and maybe you could improve his sloppy fighting a little more. I also noticed the stark difference between how you teach the taekwondo team, they have gotten much better in just a month.”

“T-thank you, Lee Seunghyun-nim. When do I start training him and where exactly?”

“Alliance tower 34th floor, that floor is dedicated to one-on-one training, and Wooyoung’s room is in the 11th. You will start today, and his training will be from 9 am to 1 pm at teusdays and fridays, understood?”

“Yes sir. I’ll do my best.”

“The details of his training regiment is in the PC, and there are recordings of his previous trainings for you to evaluate.”

When San got out of the room, he sighed silently as he moved to the lift. He’s quite surprised at the request, but he couldn’t ask for more. At least now Wooyoung is in better hands. He wouldn’t get red cheeks after training, he’d probably get smooches and ice creams instead.

San quickly pressed the button to the 34th floor, hoping that it’d be fast enough so that he isn’t late on his first day teaching Wooyoung. He had kept his body in shape for years now, and his strict regiment of training had made his reflexes probably past 97% of other humans. He could quickly make the training androids broken—he showed it to the taekwondo team once, and he could do it again in front of Wooyoung.


	16. Chapter 16

“Hyungjun-ssaem-” Wooyoung was utterly shocked because he was expecting the perverted trainer again to harass and degrade him, not the figure that the had grown close with in the past month coming in.

“Hi Wooyoung,” San had refrained from calling the younger by ‘Wooyoungie’, since it’s unprofessional of him as a trainer to do that, but he’s definetely going to call the younger by some pet names.

“Where’s Hyungjun-ssaem?” He still seemed a bit onfused, he probably wasn’t informed beforehand that San himself is going to be his personal trainer.

“He will not train you anymore, and from today on, I will.” San smiled, and opened his black air-force bomber jacket to reveal his black tank top.

“Y-you will? Really?!” Wooyoung got very jumpy, he’s super excited that the perverted trainer will not be ogling his ass anymore.

“Yeah, I wanna see how much you have learnt,” San suggested as he got in the ring and started to warm his body a little. He stretched his skeletal muscles, getting them the necessary oxygen to aid him in the process. He did some pushups and handstands to make sure his whole body got warmed up, getting ready for any incoming battles that might occur.

“Don’t you warm up, Wooyoung?” San asked, still confused why the boy isn’t doing anything. “Come on, let’s do it together,” He tugged at the boy’s white sleeve, then made him follow San’s move.

The older must admit, Wooyoung is quite flexible, but his endurance and power isn’t as much. San managed to do a whole 15-minute plank, meanwhile Wooyoung collapsed when he hits the 5-minute mark. Wooyoung’s balance is also perfect, but if not paired with strength, it will still be wobbly and sloppy.

San had made Wooyoung stand on his stances, gently pushing in some places to see whether it’s balanced or not. The younger had wobbled in some places, and San had made a mental note to correct those after he is done.

“Focus Wooyoung, don’t giggle while I push you, and try to balance yourself,”

“But it tickles San-ssi~” Wooyoung giggles and wiggled even more while San pushed his waist.

“Aish, focus,” San straightened Wooyoung’s hands and his back, correcting his center of gravity and made his stance more sturdy. “There you go baby,” He nudges Wooyoung’s body now, and it’s noticeably more balanced than before. “Remember this stance, alright? This is the core of your problem— _what did your previous trainer taught you?_ ” San now looks at him weirdly, seemingly not understanding that Wooyoung has been training like this for 3 to 4 years already.

“Dunno, he just… ogled my fat ass I guess.”

“Huh?” San looked at him with a strange glint in his eyes, an emotion so raw it’s between anger and utter disgust. “Ew, what a jerk,” He commented, then made Wooyoung stand in a different stance.

“Now this is better, you’re doin’ great sweetheart!” San chirped, he is genuinely happy of the progress that the younger had made in such a short time. “Remember, put your weight at your left foot if you want your right foot to step in the front, it prevents your enemy to swing their legs and trip you-” San swung his leg hard at Wooyoung who’s still processing, making him fall forward. The older caught him just in time, but it was a lesson worth experiencing for the younger. “-okay?”

“Alright,” Wooyoung got back to his stance again, then tried what San had told him. And true to his word, the younger didn’t slip this time, and landed a soft kick on San’s back.

“Nice job keepin’ your stance! Now let’s practice them a little more before moving on, shall we?”

Wooyoung’s body was very sore after the practice, even worse than his worst days in the past trainings he ever had with Hyungjun. He laid down on the ring, skin shiny drenched with sweat, but he’s satisfied. Satisfied of what he’s done, and satisfied of the results he got. San had excused himself to go to the restroom for a minute, but he took longer than expected.

Turns out San had brought them a change of clothes, and most importantly, ice cream as a reward for Wooyoung’s resilience today. He showed much of it, even though sometimes dodging a bit late and blocking inaccurately, but it’s a good progress.

Wooyoung still closed his eyes when he felt cold sticking to the skin of his cheeks, it felt like he was slapped with ice. And what’s that nice smell— _San’s cologne?_

“Hey, I bought us ice cream, you did great,” Wooyoung opened his eyes at the mention of ice cream.

“Really?!” His eyes sparkled at the small cup of caramel ice cream on San’s hand, eagerly taking it into his and opened the lid. “Thank you!”

“Your training schedule is at Teusdays and Fridays right? If you could get through this and improve, I’ll buy you any food you crave, how does that sound?”

“It sounds great San-ssi! You know, Hyungjun-ssaem had never gave me a treat if I did well like this, so thank you! I’ll definitely train hard and be better in no time!” Wooyoung said between savoring the sweet and salty taste of the treat that San gave him.

“Let’s change and have lunch after, shall we? And next time we train, bring some change of clothes and your towel so you’re not gonna get hypothermia.” San suggested, handing Wooyoung his(San’s) clothes, which consisted of a white hoodie and white cargo pants. San himself had already changed his clothes, short-sleeved v-neck replacing the wet tank top, and camo pants instead of his black joggers. The older had also tossed a dry towel on his head after he changed his clothes, saying that he should dry his hair thoroughly so he won’t catch a flu the next day.

Unlike his past days, Wooyoung is very comfortable walking beside San, instead of walking in front of Hyungjun with bare minimum clothes. He was never allowed to wear long pants— _he thought he could rebel this day, but San came instead, and the older didn’t know about this matter._ He was confidently carding his still-damp hair, letting cool air seep into the purple locks and to his hot head. And he’s gonna let the pet names slide, he loved it.

“Say, Wooyoung, I wanna ask you something,” San told him while they walked to the floor’s small cafetaria.

“What is it San-ssi?”

“What hair color should I do next? I’ve tried green, blonde, red highlights, coloring my baby mullet with blue…” San touched his hair, black already too long and too bland for his eccentric tastes already. He could remember what it felt like to finally see the new him everytime he dyes his hair, and he can’t wait for this one too.

“Hair… color?”

“Yeah!”

“Uh… blonde or white would be too mediocre—what about dark brown but you color a side of your bangs blonde, San-ssi?”

“Hey! That’s a great idea! Which side of the bangs?”

“Left one would look cooler,” Wooyoung felt warmth seeping in his heart when he heard his opinion is being considered.

“Alright then, it shall be done.”

Wooyoung was surprised at the sheer amount of meat that San had in his plate, it is probably more than what he had ever eaten in his meals—he had always consisted it of mainly carbs and vegetables, or breads and oatmeals. He was never fond of meat, since it was scarce back in his childhood days and it reminded him a lot of violence—just because you have to guard it with all costs so that people will not take it when gangsters raid their homes.

But looking at San now, made him wonder what it is like eating that much meat at once. He eyed on it while eating his rice, and suddenly, there were chopsticks that handed him a piece.

“You were looking at it like some forbidden fruit, Wooyoung-ah. Thought you might want one,” The person in front of him said, and he looked at the bite-sized piece that San gave him.

“N-no, it’s okay. I don’t have a lot of good memories involving meat in general,” He sheepishly said.

“Really? Sorry, I… didn’t know.” When San’s chopstick went to get it back, Wooyoung had already grabbed it with his.

“But I wanna try,” Wooyoung meekly opened his mouth to taste it, and it tasted a bit too bland for his liking.

“Sorry ‘s a bit bland, I kinda like it that way,” San said while munching more.

“Hmm. Not that bad, mom used to make stews out of these,”

“Ah really? My mom used to do the same,”

They both continued to eat in silence, only chewing sounds and occasional slurping were heard at that time. Wooyoung finished his meal early, but he still felt a bit hungry—he envied san who could eat so much but could get his body in shape. If Wooyoung overate even only by a little amount, he’s bound to get fatter the next day—and he hated that.

“San-ssi, how could you keep your body in shape? I get fat so easily,”

“Did you regulate your meals? Keep tabs on your weight and avoid certain foods?”

“Yeah, but… I don’t know… my trainer assigned me with these foods,” He pointed at the foods he was given, and grimaced at it.

“Ah, so I can assign foods for you too huh? I would suggest like thirty to forty percent of your intake are proteins like meat, then the rest fill it with much veggies. They keep you full for a very long time, I usually eat three times a day with this setting and don’t snack between. I only eat the snacks everytime my friends came over or if it’s movie nights. Your meals are currently full of carbs, which could be burnt easier and faster, that’s why you’re always hungry.”

“Oh.” Wooyoung frowned, that’s why he’s bound to lose his stamina quicker and get hungry easier, San’s explanation made sense.

“What would you like to eat? Mine are these bland meatballs with some ceasar salad. Do you like salmon sashimis?”

“I do! Those are my favorite!”

“Yeah? I could… assign you with some roasted chicken salads or salmon sashimi salad with the dressing of your choice then, those are probably more fitting to your taste. It’s only for the dinner and lunches though, you could still keep the oatmeals and milk if you like,” The fact that San gave him an option and gave space for his own opinion was still a bit overwhelming for his controlled and obedient brain to follow.

“Uh… I want my oatmeals to be kept if that’s possible, roasted chicken salad for dinner, and salmon for the lunch,”

“But remember to not snack anything fried or high on sugars okay baby? That’s gonna break your commitment on losing weight,”

“O-okay… but what about the deal we had earlier? About the… uhm… reward thing?”

“Oh those? It’s okay, as long as you regulate your meals on the other days.” San smiled softly at him, completely erasing Wooyoung’s worries.

“Yeo, I wanna change Wooyoung’s meals,” San said to Yeosang when they were both at their shared dorms.

“Ah, right, you’re his new trainer. Here, fill the boxes with the menu you want to assign, just like we did back in our academy years,”

“Alright,” San had filled out the things that Wooyoung wanted, and totally not missing the dessert panel, filling it with a small-sized red bean bingsu for wednesdays. He heard it’s Wooyoung’s favorite dessert from Yeosang. He also made a mental note to steal some of Yeosang’s leftover bleach, he’s definitely doing his hair tonight if not tomorrow night.

He raided those cabinets for good fifteen minutes before finding what he wanted, and Yeosang looked at him with some funny glint in his eyes.

“Finally bleaching your hair after a long time huh?” He asked, since it has been 2 years since San did his hair—he dyed it to distract himself from his breakup with Minha, changing his appearance for a while before reverting his usual black hair.

“Yeah, I asked Wooyoung for a color, let’s see if his suggestion works,”

“Hmm, can’t wait for it,”

Turns out the suggestion did work out pretty well with San. He dyes his whole head with dark brown first, then bleached the left side of his bangs until it’s near-white and waited for the results. He played some games, watched videos, even calling his mom, waiting for the chemicals to finally settle and nestle deep into his hair’s roots.

He washed the brown dye and the blue bleach off, hoping he won’t mess up—and when he looked at the mirror, he saw a different person. He saw a different side of him, as if this hair had a very deep meaning— _shedding a light in this dark truth, it seems._

He is satisfied, overly satisfied with the results, and to be frank, Wooyoung really had a creative mind. He had this kind of like… childish yet very mature persona that San can’t really seem to have enough of.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kudos and comments will be appreciated, thank you!

San turned in to work that day with a whole new hair, and his students were undoubtedly surprised to see the 23-year old adorning a different hair color. He never had taught students with wild and wacky hair, but this is like a gentle surprise to them.

San had styled it a little, giving himself a middle-parted hair while teaching. He later got too hot by his bangs, so he tied it into a small ponytail, which earned a hearty laugh from his students.

“Good work class, see you next week!” San had just wrapped up his class when a mop of purple hair could be seen from outside the high window, it bounces in and out of sight while the owner is probably trying to take a peek of San inside.

Then, when the students are all out, it was already four in the afternoon, which is his breaktime until five before mentoring the air force sophomores. He and some other collagues were assigned with two students, so that the students could get as much information as possible. San himself is already a captain at the age of 23, because he kept adding his work hours since he has got nothing to do in his life other than working.

That is, until he was recalled back to Sector 1. And he met Wooyoung, which gave his life much of a change since then. He felt like his purpose was to guide the innocent, purple-haired boy in this world, holding his hand to lead him into happiness.

“San-ssi?” The strands of purple hair could be seen peeking from the doorway, and a pair of cute, sparkly eyes met his when he responded to that call.

“Yeah?”

“Yeosang-ssi said you’re on break, so I figured I could meet you,”

“What for, Wooyoung? Was the food great?”

“Yeah! It was, San-ssi, but I came here to say something different,”

“Go on,”

“W-will you be my friend, San-ssi? I offered Yeosang-ssi too, and he accepted-”

“You could always be my friend, Wooyoung. And stop calling me with the honorifics once there’s only the both of us outside training,”

“O-okay, San,” The older’s breath hitched when he heard Wooyoung say his name without the honorifics. It sounded so cute, especially coming out from him, and San didn’t feel like an old guy anymore. “I like how your hair looks now,” Wooyoung admitted cutely, which made San internally coo at the cutie in front of him.

“Thanks, it was your idea. But anyways, I still have schedule from five to seven, wanna have dinner together at mine and Yeosang’s place?”

“Sure!”

Back at Altissia, Mingi and Yunho were currently sleeping when the red-haired man got a call from work. It was still 7 in the morning, and it’s still too early for somebody like Mingi who just got home from a 6-hour flight.

“Yes?”

“ _Song Mingi-ssi, you will be relocated to Matrinesse. Any objections?_ ”

“N-no sir, why?”

“ _Altissia is now declared as the new location for the ‘possessions’ to be kept safe. It will be dangerous for you, as an important board member to stay there and risk your life. You will be there in five day’s time, and tell no one of your dissapearance._ ”

“Yes sir, I understand.”

Board member. Something that he had not talked about to any one of his friends. His ranking might be a bit low in the air force, only as a first officer, but the position that his father left him said otherwise for his involvement in the experiments.

He personally knew Wooyoung, Hyunjin, Jeongin and a couple more like Yangyang, Sungchan and Shotaro. Not much, but quite handful. Hyunjin, Jeongin and Sungchan are trained to be physically enhanced, each of them are tagged with different hair colors. Hyunjin adorned his blonde hair, Sungchan had his brown, and Jeongin had his blue hair. Shotaro and Yangyang are trained to be the most efficient asassin, adorning their platinum blonde hair with pride and always had small weapons hidden inside their clothes wherever they go. Wooyoung is the anomaly out of all of them, sloppy fighting, not-so-smart brain, his only admirable trait is his extreme obedience to the system.

Mingi didn’t know what to expect from the government regarding Wooyoung, since his datas are more protected than the other’s data, and out of all of them, only Wooyoung had that prototype microchip, Atha Platinum 115.

Oh yes, Yunho. He had to tell him about this, and no one else. He had to trust his boyfriend to keep this a secret, that he’s gonna be relocated for some time, and they can’t contact each other that period of time. He knew that there will be other board members in Matrinesse, since it is a small city that rose after the ashes of what was known as Pyongyang, and they will probably stay at the Ryugyong hotel for a while to watch the government’s possession take action in Altissia.

He calculated all his schedules, and surprisingly, all of his shcedules were empty for the next week, supposedly to make sure his departure will go well, and his schedules are empty for the time being as well. Yunho would probably question this right away if he didn’t tell any longer.

“Sunshine, wake up,” Mingi kissed Yunho’s puffy cheeks, waking the older up in just a second.

“What?”

“There’s something I wanna tell you, but promise me, don’t tell anybody. Not even San, not even Yeosang, Not even Seonghwa-hyung, alright?” Mingi stated, since this had to be a secret.

“O-okay?” Yunho looked at him weirdly, since Mingi was never like this before. Sure, he hid some things, but it wasn’t that trivial to begin with. The older sat up on the bed, facing Mingi who’s currently standing up with his phone on his and.

“Do you believe me, if I said that I filled my dad’s position since last year?”

“What position?”

“Air-Force Representative for the Board of Experiments—I know this is a hard pill to swallow Yunho, but they threatened to kill you if any of this spilled outside. Ateez will know in time, and if I say so.”

“I understand. Even though I’m still a little upset about you not telling me this earlier, but thanks for being… truthful anyway,”

“I am close to some of them. Hyunjin, Jeongin, Wooyoung, Shotaro, Yangyang, and Sungchan—and they knew me too. Only Wooyoung had his memory reset, I don’t know why, and the others perfectly remembered me as Song Joongki’s naughty child who like to sneak off and play tag with them.”

“That’s cute though, but will they riot if they knew they were experiments?”

“All of them knew. But they were waiting for people that they could trust, Hyunjin and Jeongin to Seungmin and Felix their guardians, Shotaro, Yangyang and Sungchan had long trusted Mark Lee and their trainer Taeyong Lee with their lives. I think Wooyoung is the person to keep them in check, since he had a super obedient nature that’s exploited for the other board member’s fortune. Wooyoung’s memory reset is due on 4 more months, and within those months, I’ll try to convince them to let the others out. I believe they knew the other experiments will riot, so they set the date of extraction after Wooyoung’s memory reset in Altissia.”

“Riot? Are you serious? In this 30.000 people city?”

“They don’t value human lives, Sunshine. I will make sure Wooyoung gets extracted safely and hopefully he won’t injure anyone. As for the others, I have them by my side to keep an eye on Wooyoung.”

“Okay. Be safe babe,” Yunho wryly smiled, he had a bad feeling about this. A really, really bad feeling. “What are you gonna do then?”

“I’m relocated forcibly to Matrinesse. Please do not tell this, and if Seonghwa or Hongjoong asked, please, please lie to them. Anything, alright? I can’t risk more people to get involved with this. Sure, Stray Kids are handling Hyunjin and Jeongin, Neo-team are handling Sungchan, Shotaro, and Yangyang, but we are left with the most dormant but volatile one, Wooyoung—and you know what the government is capable of doing.”

“Shit. Alright. What if I relocated myself back to Sector 4? I know that there’s a shortage of admins there, and I should have a place,”

“That’s… I don’t know. They’ll get even more suspicious—but you could tell an alibi,”

“Yeah, they knew my mom’s not in a good health so…” Yunho hated lying to all of them, but he thinks it’s for the best. Nobody’s gonna know.

Yunho had helped Mingi pack up his things, leaving just a few sweaters behind for Yunho to use, since he’s gonna be declared missing for some time in the future. His microchip’s location will be put on secret, and nothing can track him, not even Yunho.

“Hold on to this, alright?” Mingi said, shoving another sweater that had a turtle pattern on it.

“What if something happened to you? What if they knew about our plan Mingi-ah?” Yunho worriedly looked at his lover, he was never sure about this plan anyway.

“They won’t. It’d be highly suspicious for them to detain all 8 of us. But do keep an eye on the others for me, alright sunshine?” Mingi said, kissing Yunho right on the lips while taking away his other things that are still unpacked.

“Yes babe, anything for you. Be safe, alright?” Yunho backhugged Mingi, who’s standing and slowly started to pack his shower essentials. “I’m gonna miss your cuddles in the morning, and all the lazy kisses we had,” He buried his nose on Mingi’s shoulder, taking a deep breath at the familiar scent that he had known for years—hoping that it would someday get back to him.

“I don’t know if I can make a call from there, but I’ll notify you if I can, alright my baby sunshine?” Mingi’s hand had covered Yunho’s, holding it tightly for probably the last time. “I’ll depart when you sleep. You don’t have to say goodbye to me.”

“Why not?”

“I hate seeing you cry. I hate seeing you hurt, but I’ll kiss you goodbye before I leave, alright?”

“Mingi-ah, I wanna say goodbye to you, please? What if it’s the last goodbye? I’ll get some more closure if you died, babe. At least I said goodbye to you too, it’s not fair,” Yunho started to sniffle, since he knew Mingi won’t be there with him for a long time.

“Fine, only for my sunshine. My flight’s at 10.55 pm, but you stay home, alright?” Mingi caressed those fluffy blue locks, probably feeling it against his hands for the last time.

“Yeah, I’ll stay home. At least I got my goodbye,”

Mingi savored his meal more than he did in the past years, knowing that he’ll get some lousy-cooked meals there at Matrinesse, not like what Yunho usually cooks for them both. They were silent at dinner, there was an unspoken sorrow and tension that had built up in the atmosphere, both dreading the time that they had to say goodbye, the time that Mingi had to depart.

“W-what do you wanna do? You finished packing right?” Yunho asked.

“I just wanna be close to you,” They were sitting on the couch, Yunho working from his laptop meanwhile Mingi had a lapful of the older, nosing on his neck to make sure that the scent is definetely ingrained in his mind.

“I can do that, I’ll work until eight, then get ready to sleep at nine, while you get ready to fly,” Just like the usual when Mingi got a midnight schedule, but this time felt a little different.


	18. Chapter 18

“Come on Mingi, it’s T-minus one hour to ten,” Yunho warned him while brishing his teeth, Mingi completely attached to his back with a backhug. “Come on koala, time to get ready,” He pats the soft red hair, the fiery color had started to fade away since it’s his fourth month already.

“I think I’m gonna dye it royal blue, in memory of you,”

“I’m not even dead yet babe, why do it?”

“I’ll miss you okay? It’s not fair that you get to keep my sweaters,”

“Fine, but don’t get angry if I change it to pastel pink too, in memory of your red hair,”

“That’s definetely gonna look nice on you,” Mingi complimented, then detached himself to put on his black turtleneck and purple-orange jacket that he loved since his teenage years.

Yunho was in his pastel yellow hoodie and checkered long pajama pants, looking really ready to sleep. Mingi had felt out of place, he wears his pilot outfit in this dead of night. He could feel instant regret gnawing inside of his chest, the sound of it’s teeth clacking resonated inside his skull as a violent reminder that he’s about to leave for a long time, not for just a day or two.

“Alright sunshine, ‘m leavin’,” Mingi pecked Yunho’s lips, dragging his suitcase to the hallway of their apartment and opened the front door.

“Bye babe, remember to eat, and wear warm clothes in winter, alright?”

“Yeah, you too sunshine, don’t overwork when I’m not watching.”

“Hm, take care sweetheart, safe flight,” Yunho kissied Mingi for the last time, kissing him long enough until both of them panted and heaved for air.

“Is it everything Sir?” The taxi driver asked when Mingi got out of the car. He only brought two suitcases, like usual when he went to travel for continuous flights in a row.

“Yes, thank you once again,” He dragged them to the private terminal, seeing that the others, which consisted of Lee Seunghyun who’s in charge of this research, Kim Chungha is the head administrator, Matthew Kim is a Public Security general, Wu Yifan is an air force general assisted by Mingi, Jeon Jiwoo is the assistant of Matthew, Nakamoto Yuta who is the ground force representative and Choi Seungcheol, the navy representative was already there. There’s only two more people left other than Mingi, which are Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul or Ten, who’s the assistant of Mark in mutational research institute and Mark Tuan, the head of mutational research institute. Lee Seunghyun is their senior, and as much as they wanted to rebel against him, they’re afraid of what he could do. And whatever it is, it is not good.

Ten and Mark had arrived a bit later, later than Mingi for only five minutes, and he’s gonna pilot the jet with Wu Yifan or Kris, a man who he knew close enough to talk casually inside the cockpit.

“Ready for flight, First Officer?” The older asked, surprising Mingi a little since he’s still in a bit of headspace.

“-Ah yes, let’s get the briefing first, shall we?”

After the captain had put on the autopilot and the clouds were seen like a steady fluff of grey-ish white, Kris whipped out his phone, looking at a certain someone that Mingi could assume is more than just a friend.

“Is he a friend?” Mingi asked, remembering Yunho while asking that.

“Y-yeah. Are you… part of the alphabet mafia?” Kris asked, and Mingi nodded. He knew what it meant—it’s LGBTQ+, but it’s a known fact that it’s a forbidden word these days, so they changed it into the alphabet mafia or rainbow squad.

“Yeah, left him at Altissia,” He looked somberly to the clouds, he swore one of them looked like his lover.

“Oh, as for me, I left him at Insomnia, he’s still stationed as a doctor in the navies,”

“Oh really? He must be smart then, good for you. Mine’s a summer sunshine and a big goofball,”

“That’s sweet,” Kris smiled, then showed a photo of his lover on screen. He’s so small compared to the captain’s height who’s standing beside him, but still looked intimidating as hell adorning his doctor’s uniform that’s stained in blood. “Junmyeonnie always works around blood, he’s scary sometimes,”

“Oh, mine hacks microchips, nearly killed me by breaking my microchip’s last firewall,” Yifan looked at him even more weirder. “I… kinda have the video, wait…” Mingi was shown to lie on his bed, with Yunho’s fluffy brown hair staring at the two screens of his PC, hands moving fast on command codes and then he presses enter. Mingi had suffered a small seizure after, but Seonghwa was also there watching in case something went wrong, and something definetely went wrong. But luckily, his seizure only lasted 30 seconds before Yunho closes the firewall again and logs out of the system.

“Fucking hell, he’s awesome, what’s your microchip model anyway?”

“Atha 112, surely one of the best one out there, and he managed to break in,” Mingi scratched his head, still remembering that near-death experience clear as day.

“We definetely should have a gathering at my friend’s house, some of them are tech savvies as well,” Kris chimed, while looking in at the control panels again.

“I usually have movie nights with my friends, but I think that’s a good idea for us, Yunho would definetely love that,”

“Yunho? As in Jeong Yunho the famous admin or different Yunho?”

“Jeong Yunho, admin in Altissia, born in 2069 like me,”

“I fucking thought so. Nobody’s been as determined as him in breaking firewalls, and now I know who his guinea pig is,” Kris joked, and Mingi laughed along with it.

“This flight’s gonna be around five more hours, right? Let’s chat a little more while waiting for the turn in one more hour,”

“Yeah, we should have that.” Mingi was delighted at the invitation, having an unlikely friendship with his senior.

By the time they arrived, it was nearly morning and Mingi had only used the lavatory for a few times, then he ate some things too in the cockpit while talking with his senior. Turns out Ten was close with Yifan too, and he’s a part of the forbidden society as well, having a Public Security officer boyfriend still stationed somewhere else while he worked in Sector 1.

By the time they got off the plane, they were told to quickly change into civilian clothes and be unsuspecting, to which Mingi and some other people changed quickly inside the plane lavatory while racing against time. It was clear that this was to aviod suspicion, and they’ll look just like any other guys in the airport when checking in the city.

Matrinesse is a small city with some outstanding criminal records, though they are easily bribed with money and not much is known in that place. Altissia is much more modern than this city, being the leading industrial city of Athanasia, but Matrinesse boasted it’s mining sites and skyscrapers that used to stand as the North Korean capital buildings.

They could still see the figures of North Korea in the past, it was not taken down due to it being guarded as a national treasure—not that they didn’t condemn the acts of Kim Jong-Un, Kim Jong-il and Kim Il-sung, but it is still history and a beautiful landmark though no flowers were placed under their foots anymore.

“Once we arrive in the hotel, we all will head inside Hall 6, where we could get our microchip’s locations hidden,” Seunghyun, as the head of the board said. They all just agreed, some of them seemingly busy writing reports or checking their emails.

Mingi wrote his last text message to his father and Yunho, both saying; ‘It has started. We’ll talk again soon.’

“First Officer Song Mingi? I see you’re texting somebody,” Seunghyun said, looking from behind Mingi as the youngest sits in front of him in the van.

“I’m texting my dad goodbye, sir.” He said, then shuts off his phone.

Seonghwa and Hongjoong were worried sick when they found out Yunho is moving back to Sector 4 while Mingi is nowhere to be found. They worried that something had happened, and yes, something had happened. They thought Mingi and Yunho were taking a break with each other, and both tried to contact Yunho on different occasions, just to console him or to talk to him. They just wanted to make sure that Mingi is not cheating, Mingi is not going to break up with him after such a long relationship—but Yunho denied all that, and reassured them that they were doing just fine, they are alright.

Yunho kept on dodging the questions regarding their relationship and regarding the fact that Mingi’s missing, he still wanted to keep their promise. He still wanted to make sure that the government don’t prey on both their backs.

“Mingi-ah, Seonghwa-hyung and Hongjoong-hyung are worried sick… it’s been a month and I’m still sending these voicemails without your response—what do I do babe? I don’t know what to do,” Yunho could hear himself sigh, he hoped Mingi is going to respond to this voicemail. “I don’t know if this is my last voicemail to you or not, but… please reply, as I always said in my earlier voicemails,”

Yunho shuts off his phone after recording, then proceeded to do his work with a very bad mood. He got in his work cubicle again, then continuing to recheck the documents, validating them within minutes. He quickly got distracted, seemingly getting some of his confidence and energy back while working on the documents.

When his phone rang, he had lost track of time and ended up staying really late at his cubicle. It was only him in the workplace, and he figured that it’d be great if he answered the phone at home, since the ringtone had left a bitter taste in his mouth.

It was Mingi. Finally responding after 31 consecutive voicemails Yunho had sent every day.

“ _Yunho-ya. I’m really sorry, but I’m afraid that I won’t send back for another long period—the government’s been tailing me these days-_ ” He heard Mingi whispering, and it sounded like he was out in a field, responding to Yunho in the middle of the night with crickets sounds accompanying his lover.

“ _But yeah, I’ve been doing fine, I guess. How are you? I bet you overworked again, but anyways, you can tell them. The government are clearly planning something more sinister than just transporting their possessions to Altissia. They wanted everyone to see that rebelling against the government could result in something dangerous. The Stray Kids and Neo team had known two days ago, since Mark Tuan and Ten sent them intel too. Let Ateez know that Hyunjin, and Jeongin will start moving to Altissia by next week. Shotaro by the next two weeks, Yangyang and Sungchan by next four. I’ll give you more info in probably two weeks. Wooyoung is in danger. Have a great night Sunshine. It’s dark and cold here without you,_ ” And the voicemail was cut off.

Yunho’s heart clenched at the mention of the sentence; ‘ _it’s dark and cold here without you,_ ’. It was the exact phrase that he’d say late winter nights back in their academy days—then he’d hear a knock outside his door with Mingi asking if he could sleep inside or not.


	19. Chapter 19

“ _Yunho, we’re coming over, and that’s final._ ” Hongjoong said when Yunho just took the phone to answer it.

“Yeah. I’ll meet you at Mingi’s apartment in Sector 2 tomorrow,” Yunho decided to pack up a little, while saving his work and tidying his desk as he holds his phone near his ear.

“ _You’re still at work?_ ”

“Yeah, ‘m packin’ up a lil’, and I’ll go home-”

“ _Don’t. We’re already at the airport. We’ll head straight to Sector 2. Seonghwa called San and Yeosang already, and they are also coming over._ ”

“Alright.” Yunho suddenly shuddered at the mention of San and Yeosang, since both of them are the one who’s close to Wooyoung, the one who’s handling and seeing Wooyoung first thing in the morning.

“Okay, first of all, I’m very sorry that we kept this a secret from all of you,” Yunho said when he saw the whole team, minus Wooyoung and Mingi, in the apartment.

“It’s alright Yunho, now let’s get to the point.” Hongjoong’s eyes screwed shut bracing for impact.

“Mingi is currently in Matrinesse. He’s-he’s somebody important for the government—he filled his father’s position last year. That’s why he’s busy, and he could only gather so much flights to be a first officer, not like San or Hongjoong-hyung who’s a captain already.” Yunho explained.

“The government’ plannin’ something on Wooyoung and the other experiments they had, and they’re not good. Especially Wooyoung’s. Don’t tell him this, or else he’ll be in a more dangerous position.” He warned, since Mingi said the government’s been on his throat lately.

“Stray Kids and Neo-team are handling most of them, and we are left with Wooyoung. All of you who’s currently working at Altissia, please leave your work and do it somewhere else. Also Jongho, could you possibly override a plane radar by short-circuiting some of the wiring in the motherboard? I did a little test on an old plane motherboard, but it won’t just work with my hands. I really do need your insight.”

“You could override it. But it’ll be useless, since the system will boot back up in the next 45 minutes, and will restart the radar with another wire. If we cut that wire too, the plane will lose the autopilots and landing gear.”

“Fuck.” Yunho cussed, since he was frustrated. “How’s Wooyoung doing?” Yunho asked San and Yeosang.

“He became more violent lately,” San meekly commented. “I think he started to remember more from the memory reset,”

“Yeah. And he’s been training in late hours too, trained with knives and all those dangerous things,” Yeosang added, which rang an alarm inside Yunho’s brain.

Yunho had also played the voicemail Mingi gave him, which sounded really ominous to the others, especially Seonghwa. He clearly had grown some mother-to-child attachment to the younger, and he felt frustrated that two of his six rowdy children are not in a good condition.

“When will he be moved?” Seonghwa asked.

“After his memory reset. Due probably in one and a half month,” This time, Yeosang responded, with even darker tone. “Shit, didn’t realize time went by so fast,”

“What do we do?” Jongho asked them calmly.

“We’ll _have_ to be in Altissia. Definetely. Tell us where they’ll be keeping Wooyoung, and I’ll work out on the extraction process. San and Yeosang, you make sure Wooyoung doesn’t hurt anybody, isn’t given any suspicious medication, and keep him from going crazy since he’s volatile at these times.” Hongjoong said.

“Yunho, and Jongho, you’re coming with me on the evac plan. Seonghwa, you make sure you have all the necessary items to replace Wooyoung’s microchip in case we have to. San and Yeo, you know what to do.” The leader instructed, and it sounded like a nice plan.

“We’ll have to intercept the vehicle midway, or we’ll have to go in and be unsuspecting enough to inflitrate and bring him out. ”

It was dawn when Wooyoung was brought in to a room—the room he hated the most. He knew he would forget about this again, he would never, ever remember again. Not even his fears, not even Hyungjun and not even Seunghyun.

_Not even San and Yeosang. Seonghwa-hyung, Hongjoong-hyung, Mingi, Yunho, and Jongho._

His heart clenched at that thought, since he remembered vaguely around two years ago that he entered this room, only to restart his life and only to wake up in his white room again, bare of his personal belongings. He doesn’t remember anything, but it recovered over time.

His own room is full memories—of trinkets and small things Yeosang and San got from other cities, he had the same exact cologne San had, black-colored duvet and cyan-colored covers, a picture frame containing three of them hugging tight on display, his unfinished digital watercoloring of them three in his tablet, San’s black fluffy jacket and his hoodies that Wooyoung occasionally stole and give back—there’s so much things he’s gonna forget.

He’d forget the taste of buttered caramel candies, he’d forget how those warm hands of San’s would feel against his skin after training, he’d forget the first time training with San, he’d forget his meeting with the older—and after this, he won’t even know who Choi San is. They would probably say he’s a passing memory, another unimportant person who came by and went away.

He’d forget the nights they spent together, videocalling while drinking hot chocolate whenever he can’t sleep.

“Wooyoung?” _Yeosang?_

“Yeah?”

“They took the wrong person. They thought it was your time already,” Yeosang held his hand, then led him back to his room.

“When’s mine?” He asked.

“One and a half months—that’s why we’re going somewhere today,” Yeosang looked happy when he faced Wooyoung, although he noticed a small hint of sadness behind all this.

“Where?”

“We’re going to Sector 2, finally meeting Hongjoong-hyung, Seonghwa-hyung, Jongho and Yunho. Mingi’s a bit busy, he won’t be there to meet you.”

“Really?!” Wooyoung’s eyes beamed at the mention of his friend’s names, he can’t wait to meet them . The thought of forgetting all this seemed to be shoved in the back of his mind, he’s gonna savor every moment after this, he’s gonna feel happy and excited before his time comes.

“Put on nice clothes, and we’ll be picked up by San at the lobby.”

“Okay!”

Wooyoung puts on white his dress shirt and black sweater that San had bought him, and black slacks and shoes, and totally not forgetting to bring some gifts for them too. He got his tablet, which was filled with drawings and sketches of them.

“You know, this lobby reminds me so much of our first time here,” Yeosang reminisced back.

“Oh,”

“San used to be so skinny and his limbs looked like chopsticks. He wasn’t built like now. And I was still an introverted kid who would hiss like a cat when people got near me.”

Wooyoung snorted at the mention of cats, since he watched videos of them in his free time.

“Hey! Over here!” San was out of a sedan, he puts on his usual bomber jacket and white tee and black training pants, meanwhile Yeosang is in a baby blue sweater and white slacks.

The car was a sleek sedan, with custom decals and a photochromic pigmented one to be exact. This car is owned by none other than Mingi and Yunho, with their initials on one of the fire decals at the trunk.

“Who owns this car?” Wooyoung asked, since it’s half under sunlight and half in the shade, which brings out its pigment. The shaded one was colored blue, and the unshaded one was black—which puzzled Wooyoung’s mind.

“It’s Mingi and Yunho’s, they like customizing things. Hongjoong-hyung was the one who designed the decals, like the demon on the front and the insignia on the back.” Yeosang answered, and Wooyoung made an o shape with his mouth.

“That’s so cool!” He hurriedly opened the door to take a seat, and the seat was nothing like he had ever seated before. It was firm, but it molds perfectly to his body, which made him want to sleep.

“We’ll play some music here, and you could sleep since it’s an hour drive from here,” San was already on the wheels, the turning the car on.

Wooyoung didn’t sleep the whole ride. He looked around, the scenery and the soft piano music fits perfectly in his mind, it was as if he’s in his own headspace. The grasses looked so green under the spring sun, the clouds were white against the blue sky, and the cars beside him are moving in a steady hum.

When they reached the gate out though, Wooyoung could see skyscrapers jutting out of every section of this sector, really showing off wealth and power. He could see some clothing shops, diners, cafes, and some other stores that sold cute things. His eyes beamed when he actually recognised the clothing shop where San usually buys his hoodies, they had the same diagonal-stripe on the back and some writings too.

“San-ah, isn’t that where you buy your hoodies?” Wooyoung asked.

“Yeah, it is. Off-White, right?” Wooyoung nodded, although San can’t really see.

They stopped by a bubble tea shop, but Yeosang and Wooyoung stayed in while San buys all of it for his friends too. Once it was bought, San handed one to the youngest of the bunch, telling him to just drink and chew the bubble-looking brown thing.

“What is this? It’s so good!” Wooyoung froze once the drink was inside his mouth, because the taste itelf is very sweet and addicting to his taste buds that usually ate bland-tasting things. He is a lactose intolerant, but it doesn’t usually act up these days.

“That’s brown sugar milk bubble, mine’s aloe vera and lemon, and Yeosang’s is… what is it again Sang?”

“Cookie and cream bubble,”

“Yeah,”

Wooyoung looked aroung when they got off the car, because they were parked in the basement, meanwhile Mingi’s apartment is in the 32nd floor. It looked all minimalistic in black, white and gold color palette—Wooyoung had expected less than this honestly.

The scientists have potrayed the outside world (what they meant is what’s beyond sector 1’s walls,) as a poverty-stricken and mismatched world—not in order and expensive like this. This is even better than sector 1, it looked so diverse and new for him, not what like he imagined. He thought it’s gonna look like the sector 7 he used to live in back in his childhood days, where there were only short buildings, and houses upon houses were stacked to prevent more taxes and shortened the zero in their monthly bills.

Yunho was waiting in front of the lift—he is even taller than what he saw in the calls, since Yunho had always sat with Mingi who’s as tall as him, and now Wooyoung had to crane his head up to see his eyes.

“Is the air different up there Yunho-ssi?” Wooyoung asked when they were walking in the hallway to the apartment.

“It’s nothin’ different, just, probably a bit colder. But not that much difference.” Yunho winked, then he opened the door.

Seonghwa is really tall. Not Yunho tall, but his body proportions made him look a lot taller than people normally, which to Wooyoung looked very scary. Hongjoong is at his height, but his energy and enthusiasm could fit a six foot tall person with no problem.

Then there is Jongho, the bulky guy who’s dating Yeosang—Wooyoung is genuinely scared of him. His body strength is nothing compared to all of them, but he tried not to be hostile as possible.

“Wooyoung-ah, hi,” Seonghwa was the first one to approach him and gave him a tight hug. It reminded him of his mom’s hugs in the late nights back when he was just a small kid, and he immediately melted against it. It was not at all pressuring, like the one Hyungjun used to do—it was more like calming and comforting, and it screamed family in his brain right away.

“Hi Wooyoung!” Hongjoong emerged behind them, but Wooyoung shrunk and immediately his behind San. “Oh shit sorry! Didn’t mean to scare you like that,” Hongjoong offered his hand as a sign of peace, and the younger took it with uncertainty still lingering in his mind.


	20. Chapter 20

“And Hongjoong was like… _what? What the hell did you spew outta your cake hole? What the hell did you say?_ And he cried—oh my god-” Seonghwa is currently laughing his ass out while retelling the story of how they both confessed in the apartment next to them, and Hongjoong is already hiding his face on Seonghwa’s bicep.

“Hey, it’s better than telling your experience in the cockpit,” Seonghwa glanced at Hongjoong, who’s still a bit flustered.

“Yeah, better than stressing to do a belly flop landing when your landing gear’s stuck and the circuit breakers are jammed,” Hongjoong’s head rose up, it was indeed a terrifying experience when he had to land without the landing gear. “Plus I have around 150 people inside the commercial plane,”

“What’s a belly flop landing, Hongjoong-ssi?” Wooyoung asked.

“It’s basically when your plane had to land without the wheels, Wooyoung-ah,” San told him, which made the younger jump out of his skin. The sheer amount of people inside the plane made him even more mesmerised but scared at the same time, since he has little to no experience being inside a plane.

“We’re lucky that the pilot flying, Lee Minho-nim screamed mayday to the ATC around ten minutes before landing while I took my time trying to figure out what’s the problem with the master caution,”

“Then what happened?” Wooyoung was intrigued by the near-death story that Hongjoong is telling, eager for more.

“Well, we landed on foam, but the belly of the plane caught fire, and I was still a first officer with not that much flying hours under my belt. It was supposed to be my test to be a captain on that plane, and well, accidents happen. But I got promoted anyway. San has some interesting stories that you might want to hear too,” Hongjoong eyed him, which caught San’s attention.

“Please?” Wooyoung now puts on his puppy eyes, the same ones to beg for ice cream whenever they finished training.

“Fine. It happened probably six months ago. I was flying this… medium sized plane, an old Boeing 717 from Altissia back to Athanasia, when one of the engines, the left engine abruptly died at cruising altitude which is around 32.000 feet at that time. I remembered there was a past report of the plane’s engine problem, but it was handled quickly by the pilot before me that they reported it as a minor problem. It was a major one for me,” San huffed out his breath.

“I could feel the plane slightly dip to the left, and a second later the bank angle warning was blaring inside the cockpit. I made an announcement immediately to the passengers, telling them not to panic as we’ve figured out the problem already, and we are currently only flying with one engine only.”

“The left engine cannot be restarted, and we are forced to land with only the right engine. It was hard controlling it, I was highkey afraid of the plane tipping of it’s axis when I land it manually, but I did it anyways. And the weather was pretty bad that day, we were rained on with strong winds and thunderstorms—which made my situation way worse that it already is. I landed the plane diagonally, but made it safe to the terminal.”

Wooyoung’s mouth gape open, since he couldn’t fathom how stressing they were when flying with only one engine. He overheard some people say that landing a plane alone is hard, and even harder when you land with only one engine running and severe weather hits you.

The tension was shattered when the doorbell rang, which indicated that the delivery had came already. They ordered pizza just before Wooyoung came in, and they plan to eat it together since all of them are tired.

“No pineapples right?” San asked them.

“Nope, only cheese and pepperoni,” Hongjoong replied to the younger, calming him down since he would literally retch when he saw pineapples on pizza.

They all really had a good time watching dramas together while spending some quality time, making Wooyoung forget that he’s actually trapped in a place where he couldn’t get out. The second youngest of the bunch had finally felt like he belong somewhere, in a place where there’s happiness and where flowers bloom every day.

_This is his treasure. His Utopia._

“Time to go back Wooyoungie,” San reminded him, since it’s already 7 pm, and Wooyoung can’t be out longer than this.

“I don’ wanna-” He whined, clinging on to San’s arms while pulling him back to the apartment.

“Jung Wooyoung, we can always have this again some time in the future, we’ve got all the time in the world. But right now, you have to go back before the government kills us.” San hated to scare or threaten Wooyoung, but this is the only way now.

“No~ five more minutes Sannie~” Wooyoung pulled back even more, and San is visibly agitated now. He huffs, then shook his hand to get rid of the younger.

“I’ll go back alone. But if you see all of us dead in the morning, I’m honestly not surprised.”

“Fine!” Wooyoung’s mood turned sour, pouting all the time while saying his goodbyes, and went out the room to catch San.

He ran as quickly as he could, barely missing the lift by a few seconds when he entered. Luckily, there’s nobody to actually witness him running stupidly fast down the hallway other than San and Yeosang.

_Unbeknownst to him, this will be his first and last time going out before the government would release him._

He got home that night, and for the first time after 10 long years, he dreamt. He dreamt about a world, a world without fears and a world with freedom. A place where the flowers bloom, a place where no one suffers. A place where the sun is blue and the stars are purple.

_He stood in the middle of what could be seen as an empty field. Above him were lights, pretty lights that moved like cosmic curtains, bouyant in the air as it fades in and out slowly. He could feel that he’s not alone on that field, as he heard a couple of laughs and the grass crunching as people stepped on it._

_“Wooyoung-ah,” Someone said to him. He whipped his head to that direction, only to find San, dressed in all black going to him._

_San looked bloody, hurt and broken, but he still stood strong on both his feet and opened his arms for Wooyoung to come._

_He then looked at himself, and he could see that he’s as broken as San—body all crimson by whosever blood it is, and several cuts that cut deep into his skin were also seen._

_“We did it Woo, we did it,” San moved forward, then hugged Wooyoung tight._

_“Did what San?”_

_“You’re free.”_

_He could feel other hands started to hug him too, it was his friends. They hugged him tight until he could feel that he’s losing his breath._

_“We’re so happy that you’re free.”_

_But it was all a dream_.

He was woken up by Yeosang, who looked a little stiff and tattered, probably rushing here to catch Wooyoung.

“Doc?”

“Yeah?”

“What happened to you?” Wooyoung asked, since Yeosang looked a little off than his usual warm and fuzzy overall appearance.

“Your appointment will be moved to the next two weeks, and professor Seunghyun wants you to train intensively with San everyday now. The training starts in T-Minus 30 minutes, get ready now,”

“O-okay,”

He was ushered to the bathroom, and he got ready with his training tee and pants, still fully unaware of what’s really happening. He double checked himself if he looked presentable or not, and puts his lavender hair on a small ponytail to prevent it poking his eyes.

As he went out the room, he was faced by one of the faces that he despised, his old trainer Hyungjun, but he was dragged to another room with a straight jacket, and he wiggled when he saw Wooyoung in his sight. He froze, he can’t even think and all his body could do is stand still, even as Yeosang drags him to the opposite direction.

“Whoever he is, he’s not one to interact with.” Yeosang said to him, then took his hand to where he’s supposed to be, the training room.

“I want you to beat this combat android. I’ll be watching, tell me if you can’t keep up.” San said, and he hands Wooyoung a small pocket knife to do so. The younger is visibly shaking because of his trainer’s grim and commanding tone, but he can’t do anything else to obey.

He was taught to obey, he had never been free from the start.

As the match progresses, he couldn’t really keep up with the fight and San had to abort the match because he saw Wooyoung was about to faint after a good blow on his neck. The purple haired man’s body began to sway left and right, unable to keep himself steady as he felt the ground hitting his head.

“Wooyoung! Shit.” He could hear San screaming for his name, and he tried to open his eyes as his lids struggle to even lift. His breaths got ragged and he started to sniffle, unable to tone down his panic attack because of his bad experiences of fails with Hyungjun in the past. His brain rang the alarm for impending danger, for the upcoming hits that are sure to blow on his back and cheeks.

“Don’t push it, calm down, I won’t do anything to you,” San pats a hand on his back, and Wooyoung fliched from the touch, mind still a bit strayed because of the bad memory he had.

“No,” Wooyoung whispered, he’s afraid. “Don’t touch me,”

“Okay, okay. I’ll be back.” He could hear his trainer run out of the room, to which he breathed out the air he’s been unconciously holding.

Wooyoung could feel something cold on his neck, and on some of the areas that are still sore from the match earlier. He could feel the softness of his mattress, and a hand that’s carding along his now-dry purple hair. He could feel the bed dip, indicating that someone’s sitting there.

_Someone’s sitting there._

He quickly opened his eyes, and forcibly swats the hand away as he scoots farther to the edge of his bed. Wooyoung doesn’t know who it was, but whoever it is, it still sounded the alarms in his brain.

“Hey, you there?” He now could see San’s concerned and somber face, and he could feel all the memory gushing in about the impending slaps that’s going to happen to him.

“Don’t slap me please,” He meekly muttered, face visibly contorting onto fear, submission and sorrow.

“I won’t do anythin’ to you sweetheart,” San held his hand up while smiling wryly, still clearly a bit confused why Wooyoung slapped his hand. “I promise,”

“Y-you promise?” Wooyoung is now curled on the edge of the bed, his body far from San that it threatened to fall off the bed.

“Yeah, do you feel more comfortable if I’m out?”

“Uh-uh.”

San sighed once he shuts the door. He’s angry at himself, angry that he had pushed Wooyoung’s boundary so far, and angry at whoever did this psychological trauma to his baby. He knew he’s not Wooyoung’s boyfriend or his family, but he still loves the boy, whether it’s platonic or not.


	21. Chapter 21

Mingi had finally sent a voicemail again to Yunho. It was in the middle of the night when it came in, totally taking the older off-guard and mistaking it as someone pranking.

‘ _Hey sunshine, how are you doing? I bet you’re sleeping right now. The other board members are already devising a plan to bring Seunghyun down, but it would need our help to extract Wooyoung since he’s going with Seunghyun in one car to Altissia. Our safe bet is at the Altissian experiment headquarters, the abandoned metalware factory in the east side. I don’t know which one, but hopefully there’s only a few and we could narrow them down to one location. There are two more new experiments, Hwang Intak and Haku Shota, but there’s this new group that will be handling them, named Harmony, and it’s Theo’s group. Anyways, how’s Wooyoung doing? I’ve heard splendid news of him from your voicemails, I hope he’s doing well. Goodbye Sunshine, I love you so much, and I’ll be back soon, alright?_ ’

This time, Yunho could hear small echoes from the audio, indicating that Mingi is somewhat inside a room while recording this. He could feel some certain fear gnawing on his heart, _was Mingi forced to do this or not?_ But he cared less and started to do some research for the upcoming two weeks.

He was lucky to find two abandoned metalware factory in the area, just outside the city’s suburb area where it is common to find such factories. He then checked the activity from last week, tracking microchips that came from Sector 1 to this place, but he found none. The closest was at a shady-looking restaurant where 16 people suddenly came in and went missing.

That restaurant was close enough to God’s Menu that Yunho feared for Stray Kids’ lives, but he remembered that Bang Chan said they relocated to a bigger place last week already, so he lets out a small sigh of relief.

That restaurant is closer to Fenway Metalware Industries that close at appoximately fifteen years ago, meanwhile the other one that’s farther away, Bailey Metalware, was already dilapidated when it is closed twenty years ago.

He then messaged the rest of them with the information that he had from Mingi, along with the voicemail transcript since Mingi will be discovered if it’s played two times. He also received a reply from San, saying that Wooyoung has been unstable these past days, not wanting to go training and having severe panic attacks whenever San is near. He is still traumatized from his older memories, the bad ones kept on resurfacing to the point here Wooyoung just broke down crying everytime he sees San around.

Yeosang was also having a hard time keeping Wooyoung sane, since the boy won’t even get out of his room at times, and sometimes broke down on his own—as if his head was talking to him and making him cower in fear. How much of an emotional trauma does Wooyoung have?

“How’s he?” San asked him, still in a bit of daze. Yeosang only shook his head frustratedly, then took his tablet with a huff while plopping on the couch. He’s been down lately, and without Jongho here to console, he doesn’t really come out of his shell often.

“He’s getting worse and unstable, sometimes won’t even let me in his room, but he still slept with your jacket though, you’ve got a special place within his heart,” Yeosang smiled slightly, then his expression turned to a grim one once he reads something in the tablet.

“You’ll fly him to Altissia San.” Yeosang gasped. “You’ll fly him to Altissia.”

“Yeah, then? Is it a private jet? Who will I fly with?” San asks warily.

“Mingi will come back and be the first officer. The other board members won’t, except Seunghyun. There are no details regarding the plane.”

“Great. Now we have more problems. Even though Mingi said the board members are conspiring against Seunghyun, doesn’t mean all of them can be trusted, and you know I have trust issues after Minji.” San grumbled. “The only other people that I could trust is Ten and Yuta from the Neo team and Mark Tuan, Stray Kids’ intel.” He huffed, flying his blonde bangs up from his forehead. “Wait, Yeo, why didn’t you prescribe him with some meds to calm him down?” San added, since he is curious.

“Number one, I’m not in a position high enough to do that, and number two, fluoxetine, paroxetine and sertraline has some unwanted side effects that could make this case worse than it already is, given that Wooyoung is going to be injected with another set of chemicals to reset his memory. It could interfere with the process, and cause hallucination, hyperthermia, and seizure attacks. Worst case, lady death herself.” Yeosang explained it plainly to San, so the man won’t do anything stupid and try to give Wooyoung those pills.

“Oh, that’s scary. Alright, won’t give anything to him without your supervision,”

Hongjoong didn’t know how to react when he got the message from San and Mingi. They both are going to take Wooyoung to Altissia by plane, meanwhile the other board members will be in Matrinesse watching the disaster unfold. It’s inhumane, Hongjoong knew, but what can he do? _Unless, well, he and Seonghwa will stand by in Matrinesse in case anything happens_. _But their main objective is to rescue Wooyoung as a team, so that’s kind of impossible._

“Hwa, is it possible for you to relocate to Matrinesse within these two weeks?” Hongjoong asked when he came home from the HQ, he had just finished his flight. He sat on the dining table, scrolling his phone while waiting for the hugs that his Hwa usually gives when he came home, and Seonghwa is currently in the washing room, getting the laundries done first.

“Not really honey, my schedules are very packed,”

“Well honestly, mine’s too,” Hongjoong sighed. “I have a flight going there tomorrow, ‘s a bit far. I’ll be back by sunday after six consecutive flights two days from now.”

“Where are you going with those flights?” Seonghwa asked, because it is common for Hongjoong to fly that much within a day and a half, probably with charter planes to islands.

“After Matrinesse? I’ll fly straight to Jeju, then do like around 3 commuting ones around the island before coming back,”

“Are you using old planes or new?”

“I’m sure I’ll be using the new nuclear-powered ones Hwa, the avtur-consuming ones are for old hags,”

“You’re an old hag,”

“Hey! You’re seven months older than me and graduated full year earlier—if I’m an old hag then what are you?”

“Honey, I’m a fucking vampire,”

“Haha nice joke.” Hongjoong deadpanned, before getting a big hug from Seonghwa who’s just out from the washing room. “I’m home,”

“Welcome home Joong-ah, now get off me, you’re dirty. Toss your uniform on the white laundry pile.” Seonghwa kissed his forehead, setting Hongjoong off to clean up.

Hongjoong and Seonghwa now are sitting on the couch, both tired because of their respective jobs, but still finding a small sliver of time to spend together. They both are currently watching dramas, Seonghwa eating his tteokbokki with his left leg draped on Hongjoong’s other leg, meanwhile the other is eating his bags of chips.

“When’s your flight tomorrow?” Seonghwa asked.

“6 AM as per usual. I’ll try to get ready at 5,” Hongjoong rested his head on Seonghwa’s firm shoulder, he loves it when Seonghwa gets all clingy and nosy when he has long flights or consecutive flights like these.

“Wake me up too, okay? I’ll have to go to the ER at 6 anyways. And bring home some tea from Jeju, they’re the ones that we both like,” Seonghwa shifted even closer to Hongjoong, totally invading the younger’s privacy and private space, but he loved it anyways.

“You’re a light sleeper Hwa, don’t worry about me waking you up at five. You would even wake up when a fly touched your hair.” Hongjoong rests his free hand on Seonghwa’s thigh, caressing it softly while feeling the tight skin under his palm.

“Mmm but still, you walk like a ghost, you don’t make any sound at all,” Seonghwa now puts his empty bowl down, then plopped his hand on Hongjoong’s smaller ones, encasing it inside his long fingers. “What time will you come home at?”

“Probably afternoon. I ditched the night flight to Lucas, cuz he said he’s not doin’ anythin’ in Jeju—and he wanted some more money. We arranged it last month after the new shcedule is issued.” Hongjoong knew that Seonghwa would worry if he didn’t tell the details, he’d worry over anything to be honest.

“Alright then, I could cook you some lunch in the morning and put it in the fridge,”

“Spag bols?”

“You bet, ‘cuz I’m lazy nowadays,” Seonghwa nuzzled his nose on Hongjoong’s currently black hair, feeling the soft, silky strands against his skin—forgetting all of the problems they had outside of their home.

“Is there any other funny stories in the ER? Or is it just boring as usual?” Hongjoong asked.

“There’s two, actually. So the first one, this girl, was sitting out in the waiting room, meanwhile her boyfie gets a tetanus shot since he fell from the roof and had a deep scar on his hand. It starts out normal, okay?” Seonghwa said that last sentence, since he could literally see and hear Hongjoong snort on his shoulder.

“She was waiting, and I got he boyfie the shot while another doctor tends his wounds. When I got out of the room and informed her that her boyfriend’s done his shot, she replied me with a very interesting statement. She said; ‘I don’t have a boyfriend.’”

“Whaaat?” Hongjoong now looked at Seonghwa weirdly with a confused smile on his face.

“And she flirted with me! Asked for my number, SNS, and all that thing—and she even asks where I live! And I was like, ‘No, I’m married and I have a child already,’. She asked who this little boy was and I replied with Wooyoung’s name. It was a spur of time decision, and I still remember the time I place my decision on my favorite child’s name over your name.”

“ _Our_ favorite child, Hwa. Wooyoungie’s got a special place in my heart too~” Hongjoong whined, which Seonghwa only answered with a small giggle.

“Yeah, yeah. Second story? Or you wanna sleep?”

“Second story. I’ll isten.”

“When I was tending people back in the ER, there’s this one kid who screamed and thrashed when she gets her shot. Usual, right? Then she ran off before she even got it, and went to me and started hugging my thighs. I was not wearing my robes because I just helped a surgery and left my robe back in the ER receptionist to Soojin, so she must’ve thought I was a nurse and could help her run from her mom,”

Hongjoong lets out a rumble of affectionate laugh, and Seonghwa continued. “She offered me candies and even asked me to help carry her. So when her mom found her, she froze Joong, she froze, and she was like… _what? How could this wild child be tamed by this young man?_ You know that I’m taking another degree to be a pedatrician right?”

“Yeah, Your test week’s next month,”

“So I thought maybe I could help the doctor in charge to give her the shot. I was still carrying her, but when she saw the doctor in charge, which, by the way is my lecturer in class, she started to cry again. She said the doctor is old and ugly, and she said she’d rather have the shot with me in the room rather than him.”

“That girl’s got some nerve, eh?”

“So we got her to have the shot, and she said next time she’s going to the doctor, she’d want me to do it. I told her I’m not able to do that yet, but she just asked for my name—and after she got my name, this little girl Eunji started to call me Hwa-hyung instead of like… the usual doctor. She said I look like the actors that her mom always watches in TV. Handsome and all that,” Hongjoong now faced Seonghwa, then started to kiss all over his face.

“She’s right. My baby is indeed beautiful and smart, I’m sure you’d be able to meet her again soon enough,” wet smooches were pressed against Seonghwa’s skin as the doctor wiggled and struggled to free himself.

“Hongjoongie stooop~ You haven’t brush your teeth yet, and your saliva could contain bacterias!” Seonghwa joked, then shoved Hongjoong away from his face.

They really have forgotten their problems outside their house that night.


	22. Chapter 22

“Hey, get ready.” Yeosang shook Wooyoung’s sleeping frame.­­­ Yeosang had already packed bags for himself and Wooyoung, so that once the boy gets up, he could just hurry and not worry over anything.

“Noo~” He whined, because it’s still 5 AM in the morning and he’s still sleepy.

“Get uuup~ or I’ll call San to carry you over,” Yeosang threatened him, and once the words went in to the younger’s ears, he shot up—started to change his clothes in a hurried state.

“Y-Yeosang-ssi, does San-ssi hate me?” Wooyoung had this habit of talking formally when in an anxious state.

“No he doesn’t Wooyoung,”

“Why did he always avoid me then?”

“He’s just trying to give you space. He’s still pleased of your solo training against the androids, never really talked bad about you when he watches those. Oh yeah, and he said you’re doing better.”

“H-huh?” Wooyoung seemed to be confused by these feelings, he wasn’t used to it, and he certainly was never taught how to react with these kinds of… emotions.

“He’s gonna pilot your plane with Mingi, I hope you’re okay with that.”

“Of course! I’ll get ready faster then.” The purple haired man puts on a white turtleneck, the black puffy jacket and some white cargo pants, all of them was from one person, San. His trainer had been so nice to him, and it made Wooyoung even more guilty of what he had done two weeks ago.

San and Mingi was already waiting for him along with Seunghyun, all of them are going to be in the same car. Yeosang will drive the black sedan that Mingi’s father own, dropping all of them off on the airport. When Wooyoung saw San on his pilot uniform, he was honestly taken aback of how those clothes could hug the body perfectly. Same goes to Mingi, it’s the first time Wooyoung had ever seen him in the flesh, and wondered how lucky Yunho is to get somebody who’s as tall and handsome as him.

Mingi had a tall figure, intimidating face and a royal blue hair that fits him so perfectly, Yunho is truly blessed to get a man like this to date him and be his best friend at the same time.

His brain then retched when he saw Seunghyun. That old man had never changed, only got uglier over the years and him being the accomplice of Hyungjun before the trainer went crazy was once a threat to Wooyoung’s wellbeing. Now he’s only got this ugly fat man who’s gonna sit in the front seat, and he’s grateful for that.

“H-hello San-ssi, Mingi-ssi and Seunghyun-ssi,” Wooyoung greeted them with a smile. San then stood by him, putting his hand on Wooyoung’s back, and started to guide him to the car, where his luggage would be deposited. Yeosang seemed to text somebody before he went in, and smiled fondly to his phone before shoving it in his pocket.

The drive was fairly smooth, mainly just Wooyoung catching up to San, totally immersed in their world until the younger ended up sleeping on San’s shoulder. Mingi only smiled warmly, meanwhile Yeosang, who checked the rear mirror often for the purple-haired boy could only smile too.

Because they would definetely not smile after this. Not anymore.

This isn’t Wooyoung’s first time on a plane. Definetely not. He could vaguely remember himself wearing a tight black bodysuit and feeling the restricting garment against his skin, making it all itchy and distracting. Then he could somehow remember taking out a knife? A small knife, and after that dropping down from the height to skydive into location.

When he tried to dig deeper, he’d just get a headache. He bids his goodbye to Yeosang, who dropped them off and seemingly going to another direction in a hurry, probably going somewhere else.

Unbeknownst to Seunghyun, all of this was planned. All of his datas are leaked thanks to Yunho, and all of Wooyoung’s footage will surely start to surface and corner this guy. They knew that the chance of all seven members getting locked up in the jail is fifty percent, but with the evidences, nothing suggested that what they did was a crime, and even if it is, it’s for the greater good.

Yeosang texted Jongho to meet up in the basement of the airport, they’ll change how they look and change clothes, passports ready in their hand, and boarding passes already tucked in. Jongho and Yeosang had wanted to do couple hair for a long time, and today, they did it. Both hid their freshly dyed light brown hair with the beanies that they wore.

“We’re gonna be stuck with this brown hair for a while Sangie, it’s supposed to last six months,” Jongho whispered when they met. “Not even my engineer friends knew I had this hair, I dyed it last night,”

“Me too babe, dyed it last night when San’s asleep, he doesn’t know either.” Yeosang giggled, because it’s been a long week for both of them.

“Where’s Yunho? Our flight is in an hour,” Jongho asked while they both got in his car. Yeosang only shrugged, he didn’t meet the tallest anywhere.

“Should be around here somewhere,” Then the all-too familiar car engine started to rev and park beside them. The blue car with demon decals, and a pink-haired driver donning aviator sunglasses. Jeong Yunho is here with them. His appearance changed a lot, mainly because he puts on blue sclera contact lenses and wears a black leather jacket instead of his usual puppy-like wardrobe.

The pink-haired man then knocked on Jongho’s car door, signaling that he’s ready to go. Yeosang is still putting on his lenses, meanwhile Jongho went out to greet the older with a hug.

“Let’s execute plan A. Fly there, God’s Menu, then Hongjoong-hyung.” Yunho briefed him.

“Alright. Plan A it is.” The engineer nodded, then opened the door for Yeosang. It is a known fact that Yeosang is to be treated as a royal— _a princess,_ to be exact, by Jongho, and both had no problems with that. In fact, the older seemed to like it as much as the engineer did, it means Chanel perfumes, expensive bath products and silk pajamas.

“Y’know, my PC had just finished downloading like… terabytes of footage—probably a week’s worth of footage from the day that San met him until today. I even had to submerge the motherboard inside dry water just to make sure that it’s not heating up that bad,” Yunho sighed. “My second baby after Mingi is having a hard time like us too,”

They all passed the security checks and all that in a whim, securing their place in the plane’s seat before finally relaxing and waiting for their flight. Yeosang took Yunho to the duty free shops the airport had—after he took Jongho’s black card of course—then started to circle around the perfume section.

“Yah, this is San’s cologne,” Yunho pointed the small blue and silver glass bottle that looked like a droplet of water on a surface.

“Yeah, ‘s Bvlgari Aqva, he liked it too much. Wooyoung liked it too, but he also liked my lavender perfume… which concludes that we should try and search for soft-scented perfumes for him,”

Yeosang picked out a blue and clear bottle, seemingly contemplating on which to buy.

“Whatcha got there?” Yunho asked, since he’s not the type to wear colognes or perfumes, he’d just snatch Mingi’s if he were to need it right away. Yunho liked soft smells like Yeosang, but he just doesn’t get why Yeosang buys so many perfumes each month—they all smell nearly the same.

“So… Acqua di Parma,” Yeosang lifted the yellow-ish bottle. “Or Tom Ford? Tom Ford has more summery scent, meanwhile this one has a more univeral-ish unisex scent. Which one would fit him the most?” Yeosang asked.

“Yellow would be better. It’d fit in any occasion, plus, he’s got you, who has tons and tons of perfume in the house,”

“Hey!” Yeosang elbowed Yunho, then puts the perfume back to the counter. He took a box of the yellow one then, and proceeded to check himself out while his eyes wandered to the clothing shops.

When they boarded the plane, Yeosang felt like he was being watched. Watched by a person , which is kind of weird considering their recently-changed hair color and everything, but that person just glanced to his watch, then eyed them again.

“You see him?” Yunho asked.

“Yea, could you… hide us after this?” Yeosang asked, and Yunho nodded.

“We just need to get out of the airport, and we’ll be fine. I have also installed a double lock at my house, so nobody could ever destroy the evidences we got. Stored in in cloud with extra layer of firewall, just in case. The backup is also with me, two USB and a hard disk, all coontaining the same amount of information.” Yunho said, then opened a secret pocket containing those devices with him.

After the plane was on the cruising height, Yunho opened his phone and connected it with a device he and Jongho made for the engineer’s final project, which, if modified, could reveal a person’s identity by only their microchip.

The tallest of the bunch then took a screenshot of this person, Son Dongpyo, a young boy in his 20s, but probably hired by the government to avoid the blacklist. He passed the information to Yeosang, then he nodded carefully.

“Who’s Harmony’s leader again? Keeho?” Jongho asked.

“Yeah, freshly graduated, his dad’s a prominent figure too, that’s why he could access these things. I’ve talked to Theo a couple times, he’s the group’s vice and hacker under my wing back in sector 4.” Yunho answered.

Their plan after going down the plane was to shut off the microchip for 30 minutes, meeting up with Hongjoong at the airport, then discuss which plan to execute after this, since they have backup from Harmony. Yunho had made sure nobody would know their secrets, even as far as dedicating his day to search the track records of Harmony by himself.

Harmony itself consisted of four people, two of them are still at school being Keeho’s stepbrothers, and Theo is secretly Keeho’s lover, so there’s that.

Just before they went down the plane, they were halted by Dongpyo asking for their phone numbers. He looked so innocent, but the three knew he was under the government’s control. Their phones were already shut off, erasing the possibility to actually access their location through the phone. Their microchips are still on though, because they can’t get out of the airport that way.

They still gave the phone numbers, but just in case, they gave them their unused old phone numbers that are located in a different phone, which are still in sector 1 and sector 4. Dongpyo isn’t going to know right away, since the fastest way to check a phone number ping is to go to the government building in the center of the city and then tracking them through it. Yunho had done this before, and it takes an hour or longer, and by that time they’d probably arrive at the scene already.


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is the climax guys, i'm sorry if i dragged this for so long already, but as always, kudos and comments are very much appreciated!

As they hurry out of the plane, Yunho felt people’s eyes had bored into his soul. They stared at the three weirdly, probably due to Yunho’s strange hair color and the other’s matching hair color. They passed through the luggage conveyor belts, as no one brings more than just a cabin luggage, so they could minimize the time gap between Wooyoung and them.

Hongjoong had already waited for them in his black SUV, adorning a platinum blonde hair with leopard print on his undercut present as he’s an artsy person. Hongjoong had used a black beanie, and a black outfit, making him blend in with his surroundings and not stand out while waiting.

“Hyung, we’re kinda followed, so if you could, please shut off your phone, gps system and let Yunho tamper with all our microchip a bit.” Yeosang whispered while all of them are getting in the car.

“Noted. Has Yunho shut off his microchip?” Hongjoong asked, and got a nod from the younger. “Okay. Do the others first, then once they are done, we could switch seats.” Hongjoong pressed the gas a little hard, and they rushed to the hidden restaurant.

Hongjoong remembered the location like the back of his hand, since he practically lived near them and had often took trips to the airport since he’s a certified pilot. He then pulled up in a small alleyway, changed seats with San, and got ready. Yunho could only put their location down for thirty minutes, as the microchip itself has a defense mechanism against this, and would start alerting the authorities after 45 minutes of being deactivated. The microchip itself is also connected to their pulse, blood sugar levels and their general bodily functions via neurons, so when the neurons stop charging the microchip with electricity(as neurons function that way), it would also alert the government’s headquarters in the city of somebody’s death.

Yunho hovered the same device he used to identify Dongpyo on Hongjoong’s wrist, where there’s an expanse of skin that would glow blue, and eventually return to the skin color—indicating that it has deactivated and they’re good to go. This process will take 15 minutes, and as their time is running out, Jongho pushed the gas pedal with Hongjoong’s directions to reach that place.

They could see Seonghwa waiting in the front door, watching the four of them as they left the black car with all their bags ready. He couldn’t be more proud to his kids, for voluntarily helping Wooyoung out of this hellhole.

“Seonghwa will stay here just in case, Yunho too. He’ll bypass the software for a good 45 minutes, and it’s the only chance Yeosang, Jongho and I to take him out, Mingi and San will be waiting at the airport, with his father’s private jet ready inbound to Ulan Bataar. We will stay at Mingi’s villa, then Yunho would upload the video proofs online while we fly, alright? I will bring him back here before cramming the rest of you in, then we’ll go back to the airport later.” Hongjoong briefed them, he had planned this for more than five months, between his jobs and within his free time.

The timer on Yunho’s watch had beeped, indicating that 30 minutes was gone for the ones who had their microchips shut off, meanwhile Hongjoong has got 10 more minutes left, but he’s gonna turn it back on together with them.

Keeho had arrived just in time, bringing four of his friends along and looking fresh, although you could see Theo’s purple under eye bags from severe insomnia and overworking. He was the only hacker, and his skills weren’t as great as Yunho’s so he’d naturally take more time to decode and bypass the systems.

“How much hours have you slept, Taeyang-ssi?” Yunho asked him, because he’s worried.

“Seven hours this week, probably 15 last week. Keeho’s been helpin’ around a lot too, and Jongseob took a leave in his engineering class for a week, compensating for next month’s classes.”

“Alright, but if you need help, tell me, alright? I’ll gladly teach you some tips and tricks if you’d like that too. And who’s the pilot here? We’ll probably need more people covering the three pilots we have, since two of them had already flown here hours ago and are standing by in the airport, Hongjoong will probably be tired, and the flight to Jeju will be four to five hours, depending on the wind and speed of the jet we’re using.” Yunho said, since Jongho, Hongjoong and Yeosang are getting ready to infiltrate the place.

“Jiung here is the pilot. He could fly private jets, as his parents are from outside the city, and we usually visit them together with my family’s rented jet.” Keeho said. “I have a flight certificate for flying private jets too, but I’m majoring in science.”

“That’s nice, alright. Let’s get started then.”

Wooyoung was blindfolded and tied when he went in to the limousine. He was not allowed to do anything, and he was only tooold to submit and be prepared for any commands Seunghyun will be giving, or else, he’ll lose his memory.

He will be injected the chemicals he resented the most, the bane of his entire being contained in a syringe or two. He was not given any type of sedation not painkillers as well, since he still had the chemicals from two years ago inside his body, and it will cause a stir in his bodily functions.

He felt a bumpy road after probably an hour from the ride, then he felt his hands started to sweat, feeling all clammy and gross as another hour pass by with no signs of stopping.

Then the tire screeched as they halted on an asphalt-like surface. It was a deafening screech that broke the silence of Wooyoung’s entire ride, and his blindfold was open to reveal a big, dilapidated place with the lift to underground. The lift looked all shiny and new for an old place like this, he could see the rust eating away signages of the factory and the concrete had reduced into rubbles because of the erosion rainwater caused.

“Get in the lift.” Seunghyun commanded, then pushed Wooyoung’s still tied hands into the lift, not caring if the boy lost his balance. He could vaguely remember getting to a place like this, but back in sector one, and he could feel his heartbeat rush at the hazy and blurry memories.

He then was led into a room, called the experiment room, when his nightmare began.

His hands were tied with chains and leather, totally preventing his body to reject or break free, he could only trust them with the little heart of his.

“This will make you _obey_.” Seunghyun said, then injecting a foreign liquid into his veins where it started to burn.

He could feel his arm literally vibrating on it’s own, the yellow liquid spreading through his capillaries and vein slowly and steadily, as if corrupting all his cells to do whatever it will be tasked with. Then his vision started to blur out, the metals clanking on the table beside started to muffle as he tried to grasp his conciousness back again.

 _“…-nce it reaches his microchip, Ateez, Neo, Stray Kids and Harmony will be inside my grasp, and we could finally contain all the rebellion with this one person. They will be mine, my puppet to play with.”_ Wooyoung heard before he lost his grip on his own conciousness.

When he woke up, he could feel his body start to function in a weird way—he couldn’t move until his brain literally commands him from inside. And there are some inputs coming from his microchip.

_Eliminate all people outside. No one will be spared, even if it’s out of your will. Get started, NOW._

He felt his body moving on it’s own, limbs coordinating on static movements as he tried to reach the scalpel on the counter. He took a firm grip on the surgery tool, hands moving on it’s own accord as he tried to resist. _He can’t_.

He then could see himself running down the alleyway, already clad in all-black tight bodysuit, itching his soft skin and scratching all the places until he felt uncomfortable, but he can’t do anything about it. It just won’t work.

Wooyoung was joined by two other person, seemingly in the same state as he was, Hwang Intak and Haku Shota.

He fought all of the people inside the alleyway who tried to stop him with ease, leaving a bloodied mess as he severed people with only a surgical knife. Strangely, some of the bodies had already laid dead there, severed heads of combat androids also accompanied them, but he could care less. ( _This is the work of other board members as they try to help. Neo had already been extracted, so the board members have left, knowing that Ateez and Harmony will neutralize their threat just fine._ )

He reached for the lift outside, and could hear shouts from outside as the lift began to open the door.

Wooyoung could hear gunshots, when Intak and Shota fell on to their knees beside him.

He was held on a gunpoint.

By a person none other than Yeosang.

Then the older pulled the trigger.

“I’m sorry Wooyoung, should’ve known that this is a suicide mission getting you out.”

But before the shot even came out, he tackled Yeosang, pushing the gun out of their vision, and started to torture the doctor by slitting small cuts on his beautiful face. He felt Hongjoong and Jongho pull him away but he resisted, and he doesn’t know why his body is so strong, so resisting even when his mind went pliant.

He tried to push the commands away to the back of his head, but ended up tackling Jongho in nearly the same manner.

“I don’t wanna do this,” He felt himself whisper shakily, as if his mouth finally obeying his own mind.

“I know, but what the hell did he do to you?” Jongho replied, while struggling to hold Wooyoung’s knife away from his own face or neck.

_Kill. Obey. Submit._

Wooyoung felt his eyes burn. He then felt his hands burn, all of his body burned. He screamed, he could feel his head pounding against his skull while something tried to override his conciousness.

_Kill. Kill. Kill._

He tried to fight back, he tried to even slit his hand open, but it was to no avail. His blood dripped on Jongho’s shirt and smeared on his hair as he’s holding his pounding head.

“ _What do we do?_ ” He heard somebody asked when his head hits the ground, unable to battle and he shuts his mind off.

_You are a failure. Prepare to self-destruct. Immediate attention required._

Hongjoong then screamed when he saw red starting to seep out of Wooyoung’s unconcious body—from his eyes to be exact, as if he’s crying blood. It was dripping continously, no signs of stopping, and there’s probably more people to come to them after Wooyoung, so he helped to carry the injured boys inside the car, then helped Jongho and Yeosang in too. Hongjoong tried to steer them out to the airport as quickly as possible, notifying Seonghwa and Yunho to just gather there, no questions asked.

He could see that he’s being followed by another black SUV. He tried to evade by getting in the small alleyways the best he could, purposefully making the chase longer by his calculated steering and skills.

Neo team fortunantely had some team members there, so they could distract the SUV as he brought them to the airport.

After the doctor dressed his own wounds, he then checked the other injured people’s body, carefully wrapping them in bandage as Shota cried and Intak hugged him. Wooyoung was knocked out in the third row, his eyes have stopped bleeding and body still limp.

Intak had told them what happened inside the factory, and it was a mess. Yeosang tried his best to interpret the nearly incoherent blabbering as somehow the drug still has an effect on the younger’s body, although their doses are much lower than Wooyoung. They only respond to sudden threatening moves.

The younger had explained that they started to have a burning feeling right after a yellowish liquid was inserted their body, and that must have happen to Wooyoung too. Shota then added that the drug would last probably six hours for both of them, and probably three days, if not a week, for Wooyoung. He then sternly suggested that they put Wooyoung inside his own room, with the smallest windows and tie his hands and feet, since he will be unstable most of the time, and would kill himself with anything because of the self-destruct mechanism. They have only 30 minutes interval every 6 hours to feed and take care of him otherwise they’d be killed already.

Shota then told them that he had been shot since 3 in the morning for a test run, and the doctors determine that the drug was still in his system even after 6 hours, so he was released out to kill while still half-influenced. They both were napped out of the effect by severe pain infliction on their bullet wound, so they are more stable than before.

“How’d you know all this, Shota?” Yeosang asked them.

“K-Keeho’s dad u-used to be p-part of them, drug development research team-ah” He grunted, since he could feel some of the drug still pounding inside his head.

“Morphine intake won’t help, it would make his conditions more severe,” Intak added while shoving the tablet offered by Yeosang.

In no time, they had arrived on the airport at their estimated time, but they were racing against time as the government started to issue a search warrant of them.

“Hyung! I’ve uploaded the videos! Hopefully it’ll go viral! Theo and I worked on the algorithms while waiting!” Yunho shouted, then helped them carry three bodies on the plane.

“Tie him, please. Intak and Shota too. They know the drill.” Keeho said to them worriedly, while pulling out duct tapes and cable ties from his bag.

“Keeho-hyung, my head hurts,” Shota clinged on to his hyung’s body, still traumatized by the whole event while he gets his hands tied to the seat.

“Yes kiddo, I know. Do this for Jongseob, alright?” The older ruffled his black fluffy hair, then kissed the top of it before scanning the whole plane to see if there’s any one left.


	24. Chapter 24

San finally got out of the cockpit as the flight reaches two hours, changing seats with Hongjoong as Mingi sleeps on his own chair. He instantly went to Wooyoung, checking his severely battered body and bloodied face, holding the cold, tied hands against his while kissing the knuckles softly. He’s so proud of his baby, he had made it this far, and hopefully they’ll overcome every obstacles together.

“I love you, my baby.”

Keeho had explained to Yeosang that the drug inside Wooyoung might be modified, as he could get internal datas, and shared it with him while occasionally checking over to Shota and Intak, his two most beloved children.

Seonghwa joined in too, whilst taking notes on what things could make Wooyoung’s condition worse, and what things are necessary for improvements. The modified liquid probably contains a tomporary memory-loss drug that Wooyoung takes after every mission in the past, making him not remember of this even if not pressured or given any significant object that will induce the memory recovery. Yeosang still held on to the scalpel, hoping it would trigger the purple-haired boy of his memories.

“You know, Shota’s dad and mine were close friends. But when his dad rebelled against the government, his son was taken and… brainwashed. He spent most of his time alone, without a mother nor a father, so he still occasionally calls me momma when he’s having a bad day. He has severe panic attacks over the years, but I think he has improved tremendously with the hope of being free,” Keeho said, while eyeing the sleeping boy in front of his seat.

“As for Intak, he was a child taken from Sector 6. He had a missing kidney and only half a liver when found by my dad, but after he retired, Intak was a subject of extreme experiments. He once got his memory wiped out, like Wooyoung-hyung, but it was done because they wanted to reshape his mentality. He remembered everything now, that’s what inspired him to seek help from me and the others.”

Soenghwa nodded, as he felt the same when interacting with Wooyoung, since he considered the child as his own, and he’d do anything to keep his child safe from harm’s way.

“Please do keep Wooyoung-hyung inside a bare room, then gradually add things once in a while to recover his memories, but just enough to not make his head hurt and relapse. No sharp objects, glass, or anything that bear too much memories. A perfume scent will do.” Keeho said, further informing them on what to do and what not to do. “Shota was borderline insane when he first got injected. Scarred my face on multiple places, but I never regretted spraying on my cologne in his room after. It helped him remember in a slower pace, rather than a picture, which he shattered and ripped apart because of the pain in his head.”

Seonghwa thought Wooyoung was the only one. He was wrong. And now he’s gonna dedicate himself to caring two of the Harmony kids as well, since he felt very indebted by their advises and their mentality. Such a young soul should not endure this much.

He then conversed a little more to find out that the experiments have heightened senses and heightened pain tolerance to compensate for their inability to take in various drugs—even morphine. A small dose could bring up seizures, and if not treated, could result to death.

“Hyung, I think the videos worked, look here,” Yunho pointed, then he could see that the videos have been streamed 5 million times over the course of just three hours. The group chats are littered with it as well, framing Seunghyun in bad light as this illegal operation is finally busted.

“That’s great. Means we’re probably not gonna be followed, only questioned. The other board members wanted all of the experiments out too, right?” Seonghwa asked.

“Yeah, I haven’t told you yet, but the board members notified me of things, giving me tips when Mingi isn’t there to reply my voicemails. They are trustworthy.” He smiled, then noticed a jet accompanying them beside the plane.

Someone waved at them, and Hongjoong nor Mingi made zero announcements, indicating that this is someone they knew.

“ _Attention to the passengers, the jet beside us belonged to Captain Wu Yifan, the current Second-Class General of Athanasian Air Force, and board member, also a close friend of Mingi. Do not worry, he knew where we are going, and will assist us on our touchdown in Ulan Bataar, thank you._ ” It was Hongjoong’s voice over the speakers, calming them down because all of them are on edge.

Seonghwa could hear little sighs of relief, then prompted to sleep as they have two more hours to go after this. He doesn’t want to strain himself and the others as they all slept.

At that time, Yunho still stayed up with Theo sleeping soundly for three hours already beside him, watching over all of them while checking the flow of the video’s dispersion. He can’t afford to be fooled by bots faking views and faking responses to make them seem to be seen where in reality, it was not seen anywhere at all.

Even if he’s one of the top hackers, there must be a bigger fish in the pond. There must be somebody who’s working with the government and who’s currently trying to take those videos down.

Upon touchdown on the airport, all of them were already swarmed by the groups that have arrived earlier that day, Stray Kids and Neo, protecting them from any media coverage as they hurry into a bus. He could see people started to swarm out of the gates leading outside, they tried to see what’s going on as the bus speeds into a desert town, houses and villas strewn randomly with big gaps between them.

They stopped at a big mansion, greeted by Lee Taeyong as the injured ones are rushed to the private clinic they owned. The others were then told to sit down in the giant living room to discuss their plans after all this, and discuss the possibility of arrest since more than one of them are government officials.

“There is indeed a possibility of arrest, but we’ll get to there later.” Taeyong replied to Hongjoong’s statement, since they are still afraid of what the government could do to them.

“There are underground tunnels under some of these houses, it used to be a subway station before it broke down because of the war, and was never open since, so we all could hide there.” The Neo leader added.

“We will take the ones under Mingi’s villa. We’ll keep contact with you guys, but we won’t really be out for a long time.”

Wooyoung woke up feeling sore and disoriented. Everything seemed all floaty and liquidy in his mind, he can’t even seem to focus to one object as he saw a drink on the table with a straw. He then felt his hand being tied with tape and three cable ties, not allowing himself to move as he stepped on the warm tile.

He could feel his head swinging left and right, as if his center of gravity is knocked to places, completely distorting his sense of direction. He didn’t remember why he got here, but he opted not to. He knew it’d hurt his head.

So he opted to satiate his own hunger. He thought he could concentrate more after he eats, and went over to the small table in the middle of the dark room to drink whatever liquid it is.

After he sipped the bland-tasting drink, he peered out of the small ventilation, hoping to get a glimpse of where he might be staying. He definetely felt more sober now, since he had passed probably a day without being awake a single hour.

He regained his bearings back eventually, which is 15 minutes later after drinking. He could still feel something pounding inside his head, blurring his vision with yellow and threatening to strike again. Something kept on playing in the back of his head like a broken track.

_Failure. Failure. Failure. **Burden.**_

Wooyoung tried to snap out of it. But it was to no avail. The pounding on his head got stronger and stronger, blowing whistles of steam in his mind and maxing out the gear rotations, making even more distorted and disturbing noises inside his mind.

Sirens blare inside his skull as he reached for the bed, writhing in pain. He could see bits by bits of him holding a knife, then stabbing people with it as he goes out. Then blank. Nothing. Nothing came after. He tried to focus,yet his drug-addled brain decided to just make him collapse on bed and scream his lungs out.

“M-mommy~” Wooyoung let out a small whimper, searching for comfort amidst this painful breakdown. “Sanie where- ah!” He then could feel something warm seeping out of his eyes, dripping viscous liquid on the sheets and making it smell like iron. He saw red, but he didn’t care.

_He just wants his pain to go away…_

San peeked inside the room where Wooyoung stayed. He placed his vision on the empty glass, exhaling a breath of relief seeing that at least the younger took care of himself already. He wanted to reach the purple-haired boy so badly, but when he stepped in, he could hear the rustle on the bedsheets. Afraid, he went out again, promising himself to go back later and check.

He has heard Yeosang and Seonghwa discussing with Keeho about taking it slow on Wooyoung, since he still is unstable, he could kill, but at the same time, he could also be very… emotional. He could be crying in pain, he could scream his lungs out, but then he could kill too. Could take anything, even his tied hands, to kill. Could break his own bones if it means finishing the target.

San could say that he’s afraid, but he wanted to take that responibility. He felt responsible to care for Wooyoung, even if he dies tomorrow. At least he dies peacefully, and feeling loved. The former trainer could remember the times when that smile blinded his world, those eyes spoke thousands of gratitude and that mouth saying his name-

San missed it. So badly. He could feel his heart clench painfully inside the empty cavity beside his lungs.

He wanted to turn back time. To when the flowers bloom in an endless field, to when there were only both of them stargazing through the windows of his room, sitting beside each other while drinking hot chocolate. To when there were no tears, just small giggles in the midnight while sharing a tub of caramel ice cream together while waiting for morning to come.

Yeah, he definetely missed seeing Wooyoung. Especially after he became very unstable twoo weeks ago. He had been so hard to approach, to the point where San thought the younger had despised him with all his being since he might remind Wooyoung of Hyungjun.

They just need more time…


	25. Chapter 25

Yeosang hasn’t been sleeping well these days, he’s been restless at night and sleepy all day. But he can’t bear to close his eyes, it’d just shot up open no matter what. Right now, he could see Jongho’s bulky frame beside him, wrapped in a blanket and snoring peacefully undisturbed.

He jostled on the sheets again, mind still thinking about what Wooyoung could endure at these times, is he sleeping well? Is he really not gonna be in that situation again? Does he remember?

He could feel the cold tiles against his bare foot as he walked towards the door, leaving Jongho behind to check over his… Yeosang doesn’t even know what Wooyoug is to him anymore. A friend, a patient someone who he takes care of regularly, and many more. He quickly treaded the hallways to the farthest room of the underground guest rooms. They were staying at Mingi’s villa, which had 4 guest rooms here underground.

He didn’t dare to knock on the heavy decorative iron door, he just opens it very carefully and thanked the gods that the door was oiled days ago. A creak would have made the younger wide awake, as his senses have heightened from the drug intake two days ago. He stepped in quietly, looking around as his eyes adjust to the darkness.

Wooyoung heard something stepping inside his room, but it sounds so very familiar that he just decided to ignore the fact that somebody tried to get in. He only wiggled a bit, correcting his weird position with his hands still tied in front of him.

“Oh god, you cried blood again today,” He heard that person whisper, he had a deep voice that seeped deep inside his brain, creating a bit blurry and distorted image of a person. “At this rate I’ll have to give you blood transfusions,” That person sighed again, but this time the image that popped up inside his brain was with a name he had mentioned million times.

“Yeosang-ssi?” Wooyoung forced a croaky response out his parched throat.

“Oh my god- I’m sorry!” He heard that person gasp again, then quickly stepped away near the door because he heard Wooyoung woke up. “I am Yeosang, are you okay?”

“I… don’t know, but a lot more sober than before.” Wooyoung’s back was the only thing facing Yeosang, but the doctor then sighed a breath of relief.

“I think your body is actually getting rid of the drugs by directly pumping out blood out your eyes, so you probably could slowly remember in two or three more days. Remember to eat, alright? And don’t keep the meals too far apart.” Yeosang gave him a quick goodbye, then got out of the room. He puts the lock on to be safe, and he’s glad Wooyoung got more stable than before.

The next morning, Wooyoung could feel his head lighter than before, not really pounding and his vision didn’t have any yellow-ish tint before, which is good news as Yeosang said last night, he’s getting better. Most of his face felt dry and patchy, especially on his cheeks and chin, where he assumed the dried blood are.

Keeho was surprised by this news, if he’s being honest. Nobody has done this before—nobody hasn’t cried blood just to get the chemicals out slowly but surely, not even Shota nor Intak. Both of the former experiments were unstable most of the time, unlike Wooyoung who could recognise Yeosang right away just by his steps. Wooyoung was calm, save for the first day, of course, but overall, he’s doing fine.

He is just pleased that the response Wooyoung’s body have given are very cooperative, even though losing a lot of blood is not a good thing, but there’s a good chance that the drugs are extracted way faster than the estimated time, which stretches up to a week.

In the meantime, Seonghwa had developed a way to check if the drugs are still in the system by checking the hormones in the blood, since if the drug was administered for the first time, his fight or flight system is activated by it, pumping more and more adrenaline to make sure that Wooyoung could defend and kill. But those hormones have decreased rapidly since the first day, the blood samples were giving better and better results for them.

Yeosang began to check him more frequently, but still commanded Wooyoung to strictly not look at his face until they are sure the drug is out so it doesn’t everwhelm the younger. He got his body cleaned, the tape on his hand changed, and a change of clothes, sprayed with the cologne that he somehow is familiar to but couldn’t pinpoint.

He wore the clothes with a weird, warm feeling settling inside his chest, as if he knew this piece of garment belonged to him or to someone dear. Another image of a person started to morph inside his head, this time, it was really blurry and all he could ever recall is that someone calling him ‘sweetheart’. That voice was very melodic, full of emotion and full of… something he couldn’t really define. Adoration? Passion? _Love?_

_Choi San._

Who is he? The blur had slowly cleared— _but still blurry to the point where only the defined lines could be distinguished_ , revealing a pair of very passionate eyes, chiseled face, and hair that seemed so out of this world. It was a blonde streak on the bangs of his brown hair.

San was now tasked to check over Wooyoung, since he’s the only person free at this point. Mingi and Yunho had to come back to the capital, since both of them were the people who are involved the most in this case alongside some representative of Neo, Harmony and Stray Kids.

It was night already, and since the drug was finally out of the boy’s system, Seonghwa said he could also open the duct tapes that are tying Wooyoung’s hands together. He was given a blindfold, though, in case Wooyoung still felt overwhelmed after all this ordeal.

“Excuse me,”

That melodic voice again. The one who said a lot of ‘sweetheart’s in his memories, the one who he became familiar with.

“San-ssi?” Wooyoung asked, but he was still facing the wall instead of the door.

“O-oh hi Wooyoung, how are you?” That person nearly whispered, his voice too quiet and too afraid, like a hand hovering too close to a flame.

“I’m… more sober?” He didn’t know. Wooyoung didn’t know. “I don’t really know, but better than before.” He finally concluded, since it’s the closest answer to what he felt right now.

“Okay… do you trust me?”

“Yeah, of course! _You said a lot of pet names to me if I remember correctly-_ ” Wooyoung whispered the last part, hoping that nobody heard it, but San had heard it loud and clear.

“I-is it okay if I come closer, sweetheart?” San asked with a soft voice, hoping that the latter didn’t flinch or react violently like he did when he had a panic attack.

“Y-yeah, it’s okay.” Wooyoung tried his best not to turn around, even if he wanted to. He absolutely loved that sound, it could lull him to sleep but also relieve his stress. It was so calming and soft, he could get lost even if San just says a word.

“I’m gonna blindfold you… okay? Do I have your consent?”

“What’s a… consent?” Wooyoung asked.

“Oh. It’s… your opinion. Uhm… not really your opinion but… a consent is whether you approve of something that I am about to do or you do not approve. That’s more like it.” San still kept his hushed voice, not wanting to overwhelm the boy’s just-sober head.

“Okay, so… you have my consent? I agree if you blindfold me, ‘s gonna make things easier,” Wooyoung then could hear footsteps nearing his body, and he started to feel anxious in the pit of his stomach. What if San wants to do bad things to him? What if San had a bad history with him? What if San… was Hyungjun’s pawn all along? That he’d take advantage of Wooyoung once he forgets?

But the hands that brushed the hairs out of his face were gentle. It was like a whisper, the warmth of the hand ghosted on Wooyoung’s skin as those nimble fingers worked it’s way to tie the black fabric just right. It perched on the bridge of his nose, blocking his vision to black but it wasn’t too tight. Then those hands helped to get his body into a sitting position, then quickly cut the black tapes with what sounded like scissors, gently peeling the inky colored adhesive and made sure to apply what smelled and felt like lotion on his wrists. It definetely soothed his hands, made them feel less itchy and definetely more moisturised.

“Do I… look miserable, San-ssi?” Wooyoung asked absentmindedly.

“You always look beautiful to me,” San caressed those soft hands with his, effectively calming down the anxious boy.

Wooyoung then noticed the smell of the cologne he had on his clothes, were the same ones that this person used. He wondered if they had a closer relationship or not, but in the meantime, San was very gentle with him.

“Do you… remember anything about me? Other than my name?” San asked, and it made Wooyoung all tense again.

“I… I can’t say, San-ssi. The picture my mind drew of you were so blurry—but I remember your voice,” San’s hold on Wooyoung’s hand tightened. “Your voice was… so very melodic. I liked it. And you smell nice, you have brown hair with blonde streak on the left side of your bangs… but your face… it’s so blurry. And the more I tried to define those lines… it got even more blurry.” The younger showed his frustration, but he felt a hand that gently pressed over the skin of his clothed back.

“Don’t push it if you can’t sweetheart,” San whispered under his breath. “I will guide you and hold your hand whenever you need of me,”

Wooyoung could feel his stomach tighten into a knot, since those sentences feel so… foreign to him, but at the same time, it felt so soothing. It’s like a… mist clearing up and revealing a place where flowers bloom.

“Please call me San, without all the honorifics, it feels weird to me for a friend of mine to do that,”

“Am I… your friend?” _But do friends call each other by sweetheart?_

“Yeah, before all this happened, we were basically hanging out every day. Buying snacks and caramel ice creams between your classes(San was careful not to mention trainings), or drinking hot chocolate while videocalling when you can’t sleep, we did lots of things together,”

“Oh. I’m sorry I didn’t remember,”

“Sweetheart, it’s not your fault, and it’s not something we can’t fix entirely either,” San gently puts his hand on Wooyoung’s warm cheek, finally feeling it again after such a long time. “I wished all this didn’t happen, we had a good life back then,” San sadly smiled, looking through the black fabric perched on Wooyoung’s eyes. “But all things come and go, we can’t turn back time. All that we could change is our future,”

“San, keep talking,” Wooyoung whispered.

“Why?”

“I just… like it when you talk,”


	26. Chapter 26

They were all still in the desert city, but they were free of any charges and free of all work. Mingi had made an agreement to the government, stating they will have three months free of their actual work to rehabilitate Wooyoung and possibly make him reenter society. The government had obviously agreed to this, since all their work was exposed and they had no choice. It is to save their own asses. The pilots will still occasionally fly, but the doctors were kept to monitor Wooyoung. Jongho will still work nearby, and Yunho could work from the villa, and could take day offs whenever he wanted without a worry.

Two weeks after all this happened, Wooyoung started to remember more, and he could define the lines of his blurry image even better, nearly remembering San and Yeosang’s whole face. Today was the day that all of them were waiting for, Wooyoung will open his blinfold, signifying his freedom against the clutches of the government, and marking this day, the first day of him being a free man.

His purple hair was long already, but it was still neatly tucked behind his ear as he drinks and ate his breakfast. San and Yeosang’s visits became more often, sometimes bringing along their friends, mostly Seonghwa who doted on him. Seonghwa had brought over some of his favorite foods and drinks, including a big tub of caramel ice cream that the four of them ate together one time.

His memories had also came back more, even some that are buried deep in the back of his conciousness, and some of his own traumas. He sometimes had nightmares of somebody stalking his every moves, of a white-walled bare room, of him being tied to the bed and being touched by an unknown man, and sometimes, of San just holding his hands while strolling through the dark.

San was the only one he wanted in the room. He didn’t allow anybody else inside, he just didn’t want to. Wooyoung wanted San all for himself, even though he knew it’s very greedy. But San explained already that he still has work, and he hoped Wooyoung could get used to him being so far away and so far apart. The younger could only nod, because he has never been left alone so long before, all he did was leave and leave again.

“We’ll be okay. I’ll help you, and I’ll hold your hand, alright?” San held his hand tightly as they both were sitting on the bed. It was night already, because Wooyoung wasn’t feeling like it until now. He wanted to open this now. They had hot chocolate on the table, along with a few snacks that are going to accompany their night.

“It’s okay if you’re not ready sweetheart-”

“But it’s been two weeks already San! I don’t wanna wait longer, but at the same time, I just don’t feel like it! I feel so comfortable like this!” Wooyoung started to sniffle, because he wanted to remember San’s face so bad, he wanted to see him again so bad, but at the same time, he doesn’t want to get out of his comfort zone.

“If you think you’re trapped, you’re in that box you built yourself, Wooyoung-ah,” San gently tugged the black fabric with his hand. “I’ll help you break it. But will you allow me to?”

“Just-just do it!” Wooyoung glued his eyes shut, bracing for whatever impact it might cause him.

“Would you open your eyes for me, sweetheart?” San asked Wooyoung sweetly, and weirdly enough, he can’t seem to resist it any longer.

He slowly opened his eyes, and was met by a smile. Wooyoung didn’t dare to lift his own gaze up, still lowkey afraid of what he’s going to see. He felt warm fingers on his chin, slowly bringing it up to the man’s eye level, finally revealing what the beautiful face had once lost.

San couldn’t believe his eyes. It’s been far too long. It has been far too long for him to see this face. This such beauty, this such masterpiece before him. Wooyoung looked ethereal and amazing as always, but this time… he had a very somber mood with those hooded eyes.

Wooyoung still lowered his gaze, but he slowly brought them upwards, trailing along the thin lips, chiseled jaw, straight nose, high sharp cheekbones and lastly, those foxy, and expressive eyes. Those eyes are now watery, it’s dam threatening to broke.

But the other surpressed it and blinked the tears away as Wooyoung’s eyes met his. It created a small spark, a small spark of familiarity, a small sense of dread washed away.

“Oh my god…” San whispered, looing at Wooyoung’s fractured soul through his eyes. He wanted to soothe that, to pick up the cracks, to glue them back together and make him happy-

“I- you- is this you, San?” Wooyoung asked.

“Yeah, it’s me. I won’t bite,” San smiled softly, the picked up the hand he held to place it on his cheek. “It’s me, Wooyoung-ah,”

“It’s really you-” Wooyoung could feel his memories of San starting to form a gentle image of a man. He stood strong, but he, at the same time was soft in most of Wooyoung’s memories, other times enthusiastic and loud. They were loud together, he realized. They both were very free, running across the ever green grasses while chasing each other. Then eating ice creams after a tiring event, sleeping with warm hoodies after a steamy shower, he was having the time of his life with San.

Then the bad memories came in— _not really bad in a negative way,_ but it’s more like… his traumas resurfaced. His hold on San’s hand tighten as he saw instances where he was put in a very vulnerable place, where he could not say no-

Wooyoung didn’t want to cry. He didn’t want to. He wanted to become strong, strong like San who blinked his tears away earlier like it’s nothing. Strong like San, who puts his gentle hands on Wooyoung, soothing the younger with soft strokes and whispering touches.

“It’s okay to cry, sweetheart,” Wooyoung didn’t realize he had sniffed and tilted his head down, where he couldn’t see San’s face anymore. He then could feel something damp on his palm that was on San’s cheek, it was warm and watery.

“It’s okay?” Wooyoung looked up, and he saw the older already crying. The hand on San’s cheek was pulled back by the older, and he enveloped Wooyoung in a tight hug. It’s warm. It’s… _loving_.

San nuzzles the purple-stranded hair, it still smelled like the floral shampoo and… Wooyoung. It smelled just like him, and he ould feel his shirt getting wetter and wetter as he heard small sniffles from the other. He rested his hand on the purple hair, stroking it ever so tenderly the way that Wooyoung was sure he had never experienced before.

When they were still having the time of their lives, Seonghwa barged in with his pajamas, and rushed over to Wooyoung.

“Hyung?” Wooyoung peeked from San’s chest, since his head was buried there the whole time he’s crying. His eyes were now puffy and red, nose tinged pink and tears marked his cheeks.

“Oh my god Wooyoung,” He exclaimed, unable to say any more thing. “Sorry I… interrupted your time, but I need to take some blood from Wooyoung, I forgot to take it today and I need it for tomorrow,”

“Wasn’t he declared clear two days ago though?” San asked Seonghwa.

“Yeah, just to make sure. And the antidote has arrived, it was taken from Seunghyun’s lab, now that it belonged to us all.” Seonghwa then took out the needle, sanitizing it with alcohol and then held his hand out.

“Come on sweetheart, just a bit, alright?” San coaxed him to let his left hand on Seonghwa’s, baring the sleeve on his upper arm to reveal the supple flesh.

“Hold my hand if it hurts, okay? We’ll eat the snacks after this, and watch some movies in my room, whaddya say?” _Bold move, San_.

“Really?” Wooyoung’s eyes beamed, _it was worth it_. Seonghwa looked at them both then sighed—it was of relief, and then rubbed alcohol on the spot where he wanted to extract the blood.

“Relax, Wooyoung, you’re not gonna die.”

“How could you know?”

“I’m a doctor, Wooyoung, was a med student, and I was in your position—even more dangerous, we were not doctors, yet we extracted blood off each other to learn for a test. San was once my subject,”

“It hurts like hell Hyung, you didn’t pierce the right vein,”

“It was fucking five years ago San, forget that,”

“Still!” San cutely pouted, but still held Wooyoung’s hand out for the blood. Wooyoung could only look at them with confusion on his face, to which San giggled at.

“Hold still, alright?”

“San, do friends call each other by sweetheart?” Wooyoung asked out of the blue, and it took the older off guard as they were watching Spirited Away.

“I… actually, that’s between couples. I get it if you… if you don’t like me back but… I like you more than just any friend, Wooyoung.” San now faces his biggest regret and his biggest fear, unable to keep these feeling that have bloomed inside his chest at bay.

“Since when?” Wooyoung could only ask that.

“Since I met you for the first time. When I wasn’t… even in the picture at all.”

“That was… seven months ago?”

“Not really, the time I solidly like you was around five months ago,”

“Still, San-ah, I feel so stupid!”

“Why?”

“’Cause I didn’t realize you liked me! And that time my panic attack struck- I pushed you away!” Tears were threatening to fall off his eyes again, he doesn’t know why he got so emotional whenever San’s around. “I pushed you away…”

“No you didn’t. I could understand it. And you were heavily traumatized back then, it was normal for you to react that way,”

They both were keeping a very large distance over the king sized bed, watching No Face forcing Sen to take the tokens while eating some snacks. But then San scooted a bit closer, and as the scenes got even more scarier, Wooyoung found his shoulder already touching San’s.

“So… you like me,”

“Yeah. If you still wanna figure your feelings out, it’s okay.”

“No, I’m sure. I’ll try—no, we’ll try, right?” Wooyoung offered his hand as a peace offering, and San held on to it as tight as he could.

“Yeah, we’ll try.” San kissed the knuckles of Wooyoung’s hand, making the other reduce into a sentimental putty while his heart is literally dancing inside his ribcage.

“Tell me if anythin’s too much, okay sweetheart?” Wooyoung could only nod as he slipped down, getting even more sentimental as he watched No Face finally calm down and followed Sen everywhere she went.


	27. Chapter 27

6 months later…

“We’re really going to Jeju by road?!” Wooyoung squealed as he heard Mingi’s statement.

“Yeah! We’ll also be island-hopping with my dad’s charter planes!” Mingi informed them while they were in Sector 2. They were now in Mingi’s apartment, but they will go home to their respective houses after this, and Wooyoung usually sleeps in San’s place at Sector 3, their shared studio apartment.

They all cheered at the idea, because island hopping is fun by boat and by plane, where they could make their own schedule and just roll with it. It was March already, and Yunho’s 24th birthday will be celebrated there as they are travelling.

That reminded Wooyoung of the present. He hadn’t thought about it yet, even though he knew Yunho very well and could already go anywhere on his own, but he still is kind of afraid of crowds. He’s afraid to lose whoever’s with him.

San just recently bought a car, even though he could drive, because the thought of leaving his car unattended while he’s working long shifts outside the city was kind of alarming. And he rarely visits his Sector 3 apartment, so it was all dirty and empty when he finally opened it again. He thought it was kind of pointless when he has nobody to come home to, but now that he has one, the feeling of going back home and coming back home was starting to kick in once his own boyfriend moved in.

Wooyoung helped a lot, moving some of San’s items from the sector 1 apartment he and Yeosang shared once, filling it in with more furniture and coloring it with new colors. Wooyoung was also enrolled to study his masters degree—since he took a degree as an admin back when he was really in a system, so he could work on the foreign language department. He was fluent in several languages already, mastering Korean, Japanese and English, while still learning Russian as a plus point of his international relations degree. Wooyoung is definetely very ambitious whenever it came to language, buying ebooks with his part-time money, learning all he could while maintaining his scores.

He learnt a lot from Yunho, who had experience in the industry, though he specializes in the crime and tracking department, not the one Wooyoung was aiming for. But regardless, he learnt small things such as the laptop’s knick-knacks and hacks to do when something doesn’t work. He’s still going to his classes online, since he’s one of the exceptions who are either away from home or who are in special cases.

Speaking of his case, Seunghyun was in jail for manslaughter, murder and experimenting on humans, which made him a maximum security prisoner. The others who are involved are whether put the same place as Seunghyun or was released because of their involvement of letting the experiments free.

“Hey sweetheart? Can we go home earlier? We’ll need to pack our things,” San’s voice snapped him out of his reverie, bringing him back to reality.

“Yeah yeah, sure.” He quickly got up from his seat, ruffling his purple hair in the process. He had not thought about dyeing it any other color as of now. But he wanted silver or blonde though, it would really look cool. He picked up his bag and quickly said his goodbyes to his friend—who he consider now is his family, and went out the apartment with San.

He could remember vividly what happened when he was taken to this apartment for the first time. He was terrified of getting back a place he was obligated to call home, but now, he’ll gladly come home if it meant getting back to San’s arms.

“Sanie, can we stop by and get boba?” Wooyoung asked, since it’s only eight and the malls are still very bustling.

“When did you last have them?” He asked out of the blue.

“Umm…. A month ago I think?”

“Alright, let’s go. I wanna buy too.”

They both were very domestic from the start. They lived together, made each other breakfasts, and even sometimes just scrubbed each other’s backs while bathing in the small tub. San’s parents were shocked when the older brought Wooyoung home, as he’s the boy in the headlines, but they were very accepting and very supportive. They even accepted that they were dating, saying that it doesn’t matter anymore, what is love, is love.

“Sanie, I changed my mind.” He exclaimed. “I wanna go to a game shop. See if I can buy Yunho something from his birthday, then I wanna search for late night snacks.” The younger puts on a serious face.

“Okay, let’s go.” San steered the the hatchback sedan with a smirk on his face, totally loving how Wooyoung just change his mind freely nowadays. He used to be dictated by other people’s opinions, but he’s now a free man.

“Hey, talkin’ ‘bout late night snacks, what do you want? Some fried fish skin chips? Or something else?”

“Oh, there’s some new ones that Yeonjun recommended me, I’ll try to find it later,” Since Yeosang had some friends, he introduced them to Wooyoung and some of them instantly clicked, like Yeonjun.

“Mmm, sure.”

When they went in the shop, Wooyoung was looking for some custom-made controllers that he knew Yunho wanted, then looked for the nicest colors to buy because the orange camo ones looked so good, but then there’s this purple-pink ombre ones that are cute too—and it suited the older so much.

“Whatcha lookin’ at?” San asked, then Wooyoung handed the two controllers.

“Can’t choose between these two,” He said, while pouting his lips and whining.

“Close your eyes, I’ll scramble them and you’ll point while closing your eyes.”

At the end, Wooyoung got the orange one for Yunho. Now he wanted some late night snacks, even if today’s not late night yet. Wooyoung then saw a corndog stall, to which he just went over and started ordering. San was looking around when he noticed that he lost Wooyoung, but then he could see the younger already ordering some corndogs and sitting there while waiting.

“Sweetheart, I’ll go to the supermarket to buy some things, are there any things you want?” He asked.

“These chips,” He sent San the picture. “And some salted-egg flavored popcorns! Buy the large ones okay?” Wooyoung smiled to the older while winking, then waited for his corndogs to finish cooking.

“Yeah, sure.” San rolled his eyes, because Wooyoung has this tendency whenever San’s going out with him, that he’ll utulize the older’s debit card to the max. Not in a gold-digger type of way, sometimes he just shoves the bill to San and told him to pay it, for fun. But sometimes, he’d yank the bill out of his boyfriend’s hand and pays it with his card.

When San went over to the supermarket, he wasn’t really paying attention to his surroundings, just focusing on what Wooyoung wanted and some meat that they had to restock. He was planning on doing this shopping tomorrow, but seeing the chance, he quickly did his things. Some of the female staffs were flirting on San since he’s really a sight for sore eyes, but he didn’t try to flirt back since his heart only belonged to Wooyoung and Wooyoung only.

He even waved off the staff, and told her to do her job correctly. The cashier was also advancing on him, but seeing Wooyoung standing in front of them, made San really bold. Like… bold, _bold_. After paying all that with his money, he rushed over to Wooyoung and held him close, his arm latched on Wooyoung’s waist possessively.

“Oh yeah, about the trip, where will we be staying at?” Wooyoung asked.

“I guess at Jongho’s family villa. It hasn’t been visited for a very long time though, so we’ll probably do some cleanup before unpacking,”

“I won’t mind, I’ll think of it as my last chore before finally seeing the sea for the first time in 23 years!” San wanted to wipe that shit-eating grin Wooyoung had whenever he mentioned seas, since the younger had never traveled before.

“We’ll be on the road for 15 hours nonstop though, takin’ shifts on the wheel and all that, then flying with our cars for around two hours,”

“I won’t mind! You saw me behind the wheel already, right?” Wooyoung had just learnt how to drive, he was mostly taught by Jongho and Mingi, and he does have his own liscense, but San still worries over it. You’ll never know what will happen, right? But that thought aside, they had reached their car already.

“But I wanna bring shiber over too~” The younger whined, because his suitcase is filled with more stuffed animals than clothes. They were going to just recycle the clothes, since there is a washing machine and they both could just borrow off each other’s clothes as their sizes are matching.

“You’ve taken Moomin, sweetheart, and he’s big.”

“I’ll put Shiber in the car then,” Oh god, San just can’t with this boy. But he still loved him, regardless.

Wooyoung then stuffed his mouth with the warm corndog that he bought earlier whilst folding and stuffing more clothes inside his suitcase.

“You look like a hamster who’s about to hibernate,” San joked as he poked the younger’s stuffed cheek, and getting an angry glare from Wooyoung after that. The younger threw the plushie and directly hitting San’s head, which caused him to tackle Wooyoung down on a tickle fight.

“Yah yah San STOOOP!” Wooyoung’s arms were flailing everywhere, finding whatever thing to grip on while his body wiggeld free from San’s cage. The younger nearly choked on his own corndog, but managed to prevent his death when San decided to stop and give him mercy.

They both were watching Aggretsuko when the doorbell rang, probably some friends who wanted to say hi. But as San opens his door, he was shoved with two suitcases from Hongjoong, and a smile etched on the leader’s face.

“Take it. It’s Wooyoung’s last belongings that we could finally recover from Sector 1.” He said. Seunghyun’s trial had just finished a week ago, and slowly, Wooyoung’s former room was cleaned up and packed, ready to be moved here at Sector 2.

“Thanks hyung.” Before San could turn around, Wooyoung was already behind him and backhugging the older, while smiling at Hongjoong.

“Yeah, goodbye you two, don’t get too loud okay? Or else Seonghwa and I would’ve heard it from our floor.”

“Yah hyung, we’re five floors below you-” Wooyoung snorted, sometimes their Hongjoong hyung is just too much.

“Yeah, yeah. Those are your things from the suitcase, we’re able to get the hold of it just yesterday, and forgot to bring it over to Mingi’s house today.”

“Bye Hyung!” Both said at the same time, then they both retreated back.

The Aggretsuko episode playing on the TV had become a background music for both of them as they sorted through the items that were brought from Sector 1. It was mostly old uniforms, Wooyoung’s old tablet, a photo frame of Yeosang, San and him hugging, and a small white vase that was given as a gift, but never used.

Then there was also some things that he certainly didn’t realize that he left them behind, like the cyan covers and black thin duvet, along with bubble-wrapped ceramic trinkets and plates San brought to his hands when he used to visit other cities. There were also some keychains, which he found oddly interesting.

“Sanie, where’s this from?” Wooyoung asked when he brought up a plate with some scenery on it.

“It’s from Jeju, my last flight there before going to Sector 1.”

“So we’re really seeing this when we get there?” He asked, and San nodded enthusiastically.

“There are like, hundreds of sceneries like these on Jeju, we’ll take a tour around it. And they are notorious for their teas, it tastes really authenthic.”


	28. Chapter 28

“San.” He heard someone calling him, and the bed beside dipped from a familiar weight. “San, wake up,” Then the tapping on his shoulder started. “It’s three in the morning now, we promised to meet up outside Athanasia at five,”

“Mmmh-” The older nearly swatted the hand, but then he remembered they were supposed to go to Jeju by road.

“I’ve made you coffee and breakfast, changed clothes, and even packed all of the suitcases in the car, and they are checked over too. So get up, and change a bit, then I’ll drive us for one hour on the highway.” Wooyoung sure compromised a lot for San’s sake, since the older had just gotten off from his last busy flight from outside the country then back home before his two weeks off.

“Sanie~” Wooyoung started to kiss all over his face, making sure the older is feeling it and finally, San kissed back. He kicked the duvet off, drool marks are still visible on his chin and near-white bleached hair sticking up to all directions as he gets up. Wooyoung has the same color too, since he bleached the purple off easily, and with little yellow dye to cancel out the remaining violet, his hair was the same as San’s.

“Yeah yeah ‘m up sweetheart,” He mused, then opened his eyes to the still-dark streets outside the window of three in the morning, only the night light accompanying both of them. He quickly washed his face, and then puts on some decent shirt and sweatpants, then lazily went out to the kitchen to find out that warm pancakes were already on a plate, with some maple syrup and butter, just how he liked it. A black coffee was there too, and Wooyoung looked so happy when he saw his boyfriend eating it with delight.

“When did you get up by the way?” San asked, since Wooyoung looked so fresh and ready.

“Half past one…? I can’t really sleep so that doesn’t count. So… yesterday? I was up from yesterday morning. Yeah.”

“Shit sweetheart, be sure to sleep when I take over the wheel, alright?”

“Yeah. Will do babe,” Wooyoung had been experimenting over some pet names that he wanted to use for San, but he can’t really seem to roll it whenever it’s needed like San did with sweetheart.

“Oh, I like that one,” San complimented, his cheeks and tips of the ears getting red after Wooyoung’s attempt of calling him by another name.

He could feel the haziness from sleep started to seep away as he chugged his coffee, mind in a fresher state and body feeling finally reborn. He could see that Wooyoung is wearing the puffy black jacket he gave one year ago, it was now a bit washed out by the sheer intensity of the wear, because Wooyoung wore it in every chance he could.

“Hey, how’s the pancakes? I’ve tried a new recipe this time, and it kinda takes a shorter time than my usual one, so forgive me if there’s something off.”

“They’re great as always sweetheart, and I think this one’s a bit fluffier? And the batter is a tad bit more savory than your last one, might as well learn this from you,”

Wooyoung was more than excited when he got in to the black car, the keys jingling on his hand from the added keychains. And as San opens the door, he could already see the thin black duvet on the backseat, along with Shiber and Moomin sitting happily with seatbelts on. He cooed at it, making Wooyoung smile wide till his ears and getting all red.

In the first 30 minutes of the ride, they were chatting idly as they pass by the empty neighborhood, still all dark and gloomy and eerily silent at three forty five. They passed some drunk-ass men on the sidewalk, limping from probably fights and drunken mishaps, but they could care less and drove on to their destination. The other 30 mintes however, was spent by silence and some loud snores that came out of San’s mouth, indicating that he passed out again after talking for so long. The plushie and duvet come in handy, they rolled half the windows open to let the chilly March air in.

As Wooyoung tapped his final toll gates, he could see their destination pretty clearly. The meeting point was the rest-area after the last gate, and this way, all of them could start the convoy by the time they are all set and ready. He was notified that Yunho, Mingi, Seonghwa and Hongjoong was already there stopping for breakfast around ten minutes ago, so he wasn’t really running late and he could slow down a bit.

He was, though, chased by a red car with the all-too familiar liscense plate, and it was Jongho driving his ass off going in front of Wooyoung. The car owner waved his hands from the his rolled window, making Wooyoung honk at him and chased after. San wasn’t budging at all, even when Wooyoung honked Jongho, indicating that the older is very much tired and needed a lot of time to sleep. Luckily, Wooyoung finished his tasks as a student two days ago, so he had a lot of unreleased energy and coffee readying his adrenalines to keep him awake at any given time.

When he reached the parking spot, he parked beside the blue car with demon decals, Mingi and Yunho’s car that hasn’t been changed for around three years already. Then parking beside him was the maroon colored car of Jongho’s. He didn’t dare to wake San up, instead, he left the car on while going over to the others that are nearby.

“Sannie is sleeping, he came home a bit late yesterday,” Wooyoung said when Mingi asked.

“Ah, that’s understandable. Seonghwa-hyung and Yunho slept in the car too, their job had been tiring yesterday,” He informed, then pointing to the blue sedan and black SUV, with both passenger seat reclined and occupied with sleeping bodies.

Jongho came out carrying Yeosang on a piggyback, because he said that the doctor hasn’t had breakfast yet and needed a half-awake Yeosang to eat. “Sit here, I’ll bring the food over,” He pats Yeosang’s head.

Hongjoong and Mingi were lucky enough that their flight schedules weren’t packed for this week, so they could steer for probably two more hours before switching with their partners. Mingi’s hair is still royal blue, and Hongjoong’s hair was still the same one from six months ago too, the white-blonde with leopard print undercut. Seonghwa bleached his hair completely, turning it into ash blonde-greyish color.

Yeosang slumped down by the time Jongho came back, eliciting cute giggles from all of them as the younger hauls his boyfriend up and puts his head on Jongho’s shoulder. “He had to deal with people’s shenanigans until this morning. Unegotiable schedule as usual, but Yeonjun took over erlier and I was able to pick him up at 2, otherwise his schedule lasts up to five.”

At the end, Jongho had to feed Yeosang while the older gradually wakes up, drinking iced americano and finally regained half his conciousness back while still maintained to close his eyes. He could respond to some basic questions like “How’s ER?”, since he’d only answer with; “It’s shit like usual.”

“So where’s our next meeting point?” Hongjoong asked the trip planners, Mingi and Jongho.

“This rest area over here, we should be able to reach there in three hours or so,” Jongho pointed at his phone’s GPS, then sending the location over the all of them.

“Alrighty, are we good to go?” Wooyoung asked.

“Yeah, ” Jongho nodded, then all of them were back in the cars. Jongho was the one in front this time, then Mingi, Hongjoong, and Wooyoung was the last one. All of them were literally speeding through the night, piercing the coldness with the engine revving as loud as an electric car could.

Wooyoung still rolled the windows open, but he reduced it into only a quarter, since the wind was too strong and they could catch a cold if the windows were opened too much. He drank some juice while having one hand on the wheel, making the car cruise at the desired speed without him pressing on the gas.

As the sun rises at six, they were already at their destination, all eight wide awake ready to switch wheels with their partners. San and Yunho ate the second time at their stop, ordering cheese quiche to fill their stomachs and some cold coffee to boost their energy. Seonghwa was still fumbling with the charging port, finding a vacant one proved to be a hard thing as the rest area was so small.

“Hey guys, I think there’s no vacant ones, can I charge from your cars?” Seonghwa asked, since both him and Hongjoong forgot to charge and their battery was already at 30%—which could lead to a disaster since after this, there are no known rest areas on the road that has enough voltage to charge their SUV fast.

“Yeah, sure hyung, or do you wanna use my spare battery first?” Jongho asked, since he made a spare battery out of scrap he had from Insomnia when he worked there. He wasn’t called the youngest head of aeronautic machinery innovation for nothing. He has that brilliant mind to connect the dots and the plane he designed for two years will finally be mass produced this month after two tedious years of making blueprints and failed tests.

“You brought it? I’ll use it then, should be sufficient enough for another three hours.” Seonghwa smiled at their reliable maknae.

“-Yeah, I’m still currently having Theo as my ‘apprentice’ in our department, since he’s such a cutie and such a blank canvas. I think he could really improve to be a better person,” Yunho said while munching his quiche, sometimes eyeing on Mingi who’s already asleep in the car.

“Are there any more funny stories from the ER?” Wooyoung asked, since he’s really into those kinds of weird experiences Yeosang and Seonghwa had.

“Not really, been really boring like usual. Some still mistaken me for a female nurse because of my long hair, but really, I wasn’t intending to look like one that day. It was just too hot for my neck that I borrowed some nurse’s elastic bands.” He grumbles, since it is like a daily occcurence for him to be mistaken as a woman with his scent and overall looks.

The others only smiled, because they couldn’t really relate to that problem. “How’s school for you, Wooyoung?” Mingi asked.

“My russian lessons were getting harder these days, I could barely keep up. Then there’s the legal document guidelines that are so compliated and subjective, I could barely even comply with it.” Wooyoung sulked, because it’s true that his school days are getting harder. But he wouldn’t ever want to trade this with anything though, it’s as perfect as his dream could get.

After long hours of travelling, they finally reached their destination. It was so beautiful, the meadows behind Jongho’s villa was so wide and it stretched until the seas. They were there right when the sun sets, which accompanied them all while walking down the hill.

“We did it.” San whispered to his ear.

“Did what?”

“You’re free. And you will always be free."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi guys! thank you for reading until the end, and as always, please support ateez on their every activity, and I wish you guys had great time reading this! 
> 
> bonus tmi: the file name of this story is titled project wonderland, and the first draft was very different from this, since Mingi and Wooyoung were the bad guys, Hongjoong and Yunho were the good ones, and the rest are in between :')
> 
> but anyways, once again, thank u! see u in my other stories!


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